Centre plans to give ambulances to states to ensure quick help for highway accident victims: Gadkari
New Delhi (PTI): Expressing concern over high fatalities in road accidents, Union minister Nitin Gadkari on Wednesday said the Centre plans to provide states with modern ambulances with the condition that these vehicles must reach accident spots within 10 minutes.
Replying to supplementaries during the Question Hour in the Rajya Sabha, the Minister of Road Transport and Highways acknowledged that the government has not been successful in reducing the number of deaths due to road accidents despite several measures to improve road infrastructure.
Gadkari was responding to a question of senior Congress member Pramod Tiwari, who sought to know the steps taken by the government on road safety.
Tiwari was referring to a road accident on the Yamuna Expressway on Tuesday.
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"In our country, there are 5 lakh road accidents annually, causing around 1.8 lakh deaths," Gadkari said, adding that around 66 per cent of the deaths are in the age group of 18-34.
"This is terrible. We are trying hard (to reduce fatalities), but we have not been successful," the minister said.
Gadkari said the government has made efforts by improving road engineering, making enforcement of laws stricter and increasing penalties.
"Human behaviour is one of the biggest problems," the minister said, as he stressed the need to follow traffic rules.
Gadkari agreed that the ambulance should reach the accident sites within 10 minutes. He cited a study by IIM, which found that the lives of 50,000 people could have been saved had they received immediate and timely medical treatment.
Based on this study, the minister said, the government has decided that it would honour those helping accident victims by declaring them as 'Raahveers', and also providing a reward of Rs 25,000 each.
Gadkari said the ambulances will now also have special tools to evacuate people from accident spots.
"We have told states to have the same helpline number for ambulance service," he said.
Gadkari said it is not the job of NHAI to manage ambulance services.
Therefore, he said, "We have decided to have MoUs with states on a kilometre basis, wherein we will provide good quality ambulances to each state. But, our condition will be that ambulances must reach accident spots within 10 minutes".
The minister said the Centre is ready to provide 100-150 ambulances that they can operate in their systems.
On a separate question related to loose FASTags, Gadkari said this is a kind of fraud but assured the House that the problem has been addressed.
A loose FASTag is referred to as a FASTag that is not fixed on the vehicle's windscreen and carried in hand by the motorist.
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In a written reply, the minister informed that as on 10th December, 2025, a total of 6,725 cases of "Tag in Hand" have been reported.
The government, through Indian Highways Management Company Ltd (IHMCL), has progressively strengthened the Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) for detecting and blacklisting 'loose FASTags' or 'tag-in-hand'.
As per the IHMCL's policy circular issued in August 2019, fee plaza operators are required to report such violations to the concerned acquirer bank and National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI).
The issuer bank verifies the case and blacklists the non-compliant FASTag until the reported FASTag is affixed on the windscreen.
To streamline enforcement, a circular dated 26th June, 2025, introduced a structured reporting format, requiring fee collecting agencies to submit weekly data to a portal.
Based on these reports, IHMCL coordinates with NPCI to initiate blacklisting of such loose FASTags.
"Directives have been issued to all fee-collecting agencies and concessionaires from time to time regarding 'loose FASTag' or 'Tag-in-hand'," the minister said.
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RCB beat MI by 18 runs after batters fire
Mumbai (PTI): Royal Challengers Bengaluru skipper Rajat Patidar, Phil Salt and Virat Kohli blasted half-centuries as the defending champions beat Mumbai Indians by 18 runs in an Indian Premier League match here on Sunday.
Salt (78 off 36 balls) and Kohli (50 off 38 balls) stitched together a 120-run stand for the opening wicket before Patidar scored a rapid 53 off just 20 balls as RCB posted 240 for 4.
In response, Mumbai Indians were restricted to 222 for 5, with RCB spinner Suyash Sharma (2/47) putting the skids on the home side with a double strike in the eighth over, from which they could not recover.
Sherfane Rutherford top-scored for MI with an unbeaten 71 off 31 balls.
While opener Rohit Sharma appeared to be struggling with a hamstring issue and had to retire hurt on 19, his partner Ryan Rickelton made 37, while Suryakumar Yadav (33) and Hardik Pandya (40) were the other contributors for MI.
Brief scores:
Royal Challengers Bengaluru 240 for 4 in 20 overs (Phil Salt 78, Virat Kohli 50, Rajat Patidar 53, Tim David 35 not out).
Mumbai Indians: 222 for 5 in 20 overs (Sherfane Rutherford 71 not out, Ryan Rickelton 37, Hardik Pandya 40; Suyash Sharma 2/47).
