Parliament panel wants annual targets to cut road deaths

• ET Bureau

• Published On Mar 26, 2026 at 08:19 AM IST

New Delhi: A parliamentary committee has proposed fixing specific and measurable annual targets for reducing road accidents and fatalities, and the establishment of a dedicated National Highway Safety Patrol on high-accident corridors.

India recorded about 473,000 road accidents and 170,000 fatalities in 2024, with national highways accounting for more than 52,600 deaths.

The parliamentary standing committee on transport, tourism and culture said awarding new contracts of the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) should be conditioned on demonstrated progress in clearing existing project backlogs. It also recommended a liquidation plan for work-in-progress projects, identifying stretches at risk of cost escalation. These measures will help clear the backlog, the committee said in its report submitted to Parliament on Wednesday.According to the report, the NHAI is managing the construction of 27,597 km with a capital cost of ₹7.72 lakh crore. About 13,228 km of these roads remain under construction.

The committee recommended shifting to zero-based maintenance budgeting grounded in the International Roughness Index based on data from network survey vehicles, after it observed a discrepancy in the demand for grants by the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways.