Seminar on road safety held

Tribune News Service

Tribune News Service

Amritsar, November 15

A two-day national seminar-cum-workshop on ‘Road Safety and Right to Walk’ commenced at Guru Nanak Dev University here on Thursday. The seminar was organised by Guru Ramdas School of Planning of the university in collaboration with Punjab Police, Centre of Science and Environment, New Delhi, WRI India, a research organisation, and under Mission Tandrust Punjab.

Jaspal Singh, Vice-Chancellor, GNDU, inaugurated the seminar-cum-workshop while among the special guests, included Dr Sukhchain Singh Gill, Police Commissioner Amritsar, Dr SS Behl, Dean Academic Affairs, and Dr Navdeep Asija, Traffic Adviser, Punjab.

The Police Commissioner stressed on different studies on various aspects of traffic in the holy city. He said the traffic menace was one of the biggest problems in the city. Though traffic police make efforts to streamline it, but there are several other agencies who are required to take necessary action for ending the traffic mess. He said the people were also needed to commute on roads in responsible way and obey traffic signals and rules in letter and spirit.

Jaspal Singh highlighted the needs for clearing the road and footpaths from encroachments for paving way for pedestrians to move freely. He pointed out that almost all city roads had been encroached upon by road-side vendors or others. He highlighted various initiatives of university encouraging walking and cycling. He emphasised the need for strict enforcement of rules and regulatory measures within the city at different locations.

Dr Navdeep Asija, Traffic Adviser to Punjab government, emphasised on the safety of pedestrians and cyclists on roads while adding that their safety was an area of deep concern.

While highlighting the importance of transport planning, Behl said there was need to synergize between planning and management and right of pedestrians should be prime focus.