SAI International School organized a Road Safety Awareness Program for the students of Class XI on January 16, 2023. This highly insightful & interactive session was conducted by Mr. Sanjay Kumar Biswal, Joint Commissioner Transport & Mr. Sanat Kumar Jena, RTO, BBS- II, accompanied by several other dignitaries from Traffic Department, Govt. of Odisha, with an attempt to propagate the cause of safer roads & create more awareness about traffic rules & regulations on the advent of the ongoing Road Safety Week, under “Swachhata Pakhwada”.
The program highlighted a strong stand against the rampant traffic violations while shedding some light on the current road safety scenario in Odisha & discussing the various road safety initiatives under the government terrain. The awareness campaign also disclosed about the ‘Zero Fatalities’ initiatives by Govt. of Odisha, that are underway to identify accident prone stretches & reduce accidental deaths adversely; followed by deliberations on the new traffic violation fine structure & a Traffic Awareness Road Safety Film Screening where the students were shown various short films & advertisements, directed & produced indigenously in Odisha, to further create awareness amidst the student community who are the future custodians of the state & nation.
Mr. Sanjay Kumar Biswal explained the students about how transport can impact financial health & growth of the country & spoke of various online services & safety portals available under the State Transport Authority, ranging from Digital Payments, Anywhere Citizen Services, Transfer of Ownership, EV Subsidies, RTO Services, DL Fees to Government initiative portals such as Rakshak, one of the first training programmes for about 30, 000 volunteers to promptly act during road accidents & prevent road mishaps. Students engaged in an interactive quiz where they proactively participated in answering questions as posed by the panel of dignitaries & were rewarded high quality, ISI helmets for their correct answers.
While addressing the students, he said, “You all are the future of India who can change the fate of road safety. I urge the youth of the country to be good Samaritans, & help people around them in times of need whilst also strictly abiding by the traffic rules themselves. It’s blissful to see how well-aware the SAIoneers are with the traffic regulations & the cautionary road signs.” He took immense pride in pointing out that Odisha is the only state that has hosted the Hockey World Cup twice now & how adequate traffic management has played a huge role in ensuring the success of such large-scale events.
On the occasion, Shri Nilakantha Panigrahi, Director Academics & Senior Principal, SAI International School said, “Traffic chaos can be reduced if we all make a combined effort and obey traffic rules, & a lot of that adequate execution & implementation also depends on the young citizens of the state.’’ He reminisced about how Late. Dr. Bijaya Kumar Sahoo, Founder-Chairman, SAI International School, was of the belief that absolute consciousness amidst children from a young age is instrumental in maintaining traffic and road safety & concerned authorities and schools must take proactive steps to introduce social awareness among the youth.