Jatri Kalyan Samity demands timely financial assistance to road accident victims

Jatri Kalyan Samity has demanded that the victims of road accidents be provided financial assistance on time by enacting the provision in this regard under the Road Transport Act 2018 on an urgent basis. 

"Even though the ruling government is at the end of its term, no significant steps have been seen to implement the promise of safe roads as per the election manifesto, said Secretary-General of the Jatri Kalyan Samity Mozammel Haque Chowdhury in a statement Friday (21 October).

On the occasion of National Road Safety Day, Jatri Kalyan Samity organised a press conference on "Compensation for Road Accident Victims and Activation of National Road Safety Council as per the Road Transport Act". 

Mozammel Haque Chowdhury said that working people of the country are dying the most in road accidents. It affects the national economy. Socio-economic loss occurs to the victims and their dependents.

"Buet's ARI calculations say that the loss in road accidents in the last three years is about Tk1.09 lakh crore. Analyzing the police database, ARI says that 54% of the people killed in road-highway accidents in the country in the last decade are between the ages of 16 and 40. And 18 and a half percent of those killed in accidents are children below 15 years."

He also said that due to the loss of life of a working person in a road accident, according to the Roads and Highways department, there is a financial loss of Tk24.62 lakh. 

Accordingly, the family of each deceased person is entitled to compensation of this amount from the state.

Although the Road Transport Act 2018 provides for compensation of Tk5 lakh to the family of the deceased and Tk3 lakh to the injured from the financial assistance fund for road accident victims, the process of providing this compensation has not been started even after 3 years of the law coming into effect, the secretary-general claimed. 

He demanded that the financial assistance programme for the victims of road accidents be launched on an urgent basis.

At the same time, he demanded the activation of the National Road Safety Council to reduce the loss of life and damage in accidents.

Buet Accident Research Center Assistant Professor Kazi Saifun Newaz, prominent journalist Abu Saeed Khan, JKS Vice President Tawhidul Haque, Joint Secretary General M Monirul Haque, National Human Rights Society Bangladesh President Manjur Hossain Isha, Safe Drive General Secretary Kazi Abdul Qayyum and others also spoke.

The family members of the victims of the road accident have expressed their grief and demanded financial assistance from the state as per the law.