Despite high number of road accidents and deaths, Maharashtra Safety Council fails to meet in 3 years

Maharashtra has not convened a meeting of the statutory State Road Safety Council (SRSC) since April 2023, even though it has reported more than one lakh accidents and over 50,000 fatalities in more than three years, officials said.

The last meeting of the SRSC was chaired by then chief minister Eknath Shinde, who also held the transport portfolio at the time, on April 4, 2023.

However, not a single meeting was convened for more than 38 months, even though rules mandate that SRSC meet at least once every six months.

State transport minister Pratap Sarnaik recently told PTI that an SRSC meeting would be convened in the first week of July.

Constituted under the Central Motor Vehicles Rules, the State Road Safety Council is the apex policy body responsible for reviewing accident trends, monitoring the implementation of road safety measures, identifying accident-prone black spots and coordinating action among departments dealing with transport, roads, policing and public health.

Since January 1, 2023, Maharashtra has recorded 1,17,070 road accidents, resulting in 50,488 fatalities, 73,423 serious injuries and 27,198 minor injuries, as per the transport department data.

Since December 2024, the state has reported 49,157 road accidents that claimed 20,890 lives, while 32,161 persons suffered serious injuries and 11,220 sustained minor injuries.

In the first quarter of 2026, Maharashtra reported 9,259 road accidents that killed 3,858 persons.

Recent road accidents include a taxi crash on the Ulhas River bridge near Kalyan in Thane district that left 11 passengers dead, and a collision on the Mumbai-Ahmedabad Highway in Palghar district, killing 13 people on their way to an engagement ceremony.

The Ministry of Road Transport and Highways data for 2024 showed Maharashtra ranked third nationally in road fatalities, recording 15,715 deaths, following Uttar Pradesh and Tamil Nadu, underscoring the scale of the challenge despite repeated road safety initiatives.

In 2015, Maharashtra revived the State Road Safety Council, aiming to reduce road accidents, and meetings were held regularly till 2019. However, in the subsequent years, only four meetings have taken place despite the rules requiring biannual reviews, they said.

Maharashtra has nearly five crore registered vehicles and has recorded over 35,000 road accidents and more than 15,000 fatalities annually, making road safety one of the most significant public policy challenges.

The prolonged inactivity of the state’s apex road safety body has therefore raised concerns.

“The Centre has prescribed certain road safety guidelines and parameters. We are preparing a three-year road safety plan for roads under the Mumbai Metropolitan Region Development Authority (MMRDA), Maharashtra State Road Development Corporation (MSRDC), Public Works Department (PWD) and local bodies,” Sarnaik said.

The minister said the proposal is in the final stage, and once it is ready in a fortnight, he will convene the State Road Safety Council meeting in the first week of July.

A retired RTO officer said the council’s failure to meet for more than three years has meant there has been no periodic review of the implementation of the five pillars of road safety, compliance with directions issued by the Supreme Court Committee, or the effectiveness of road safety education programmes.

“Road safety education has been introduced in school curricula, but its impact and outreach need regular assessment. These and several other such issues that should have been reviewed by the State Road Safety Council,” he said.