March 20: Parliamentarians have drawn the attention of the government towards the need of declaring a special situation and taking urgent measures for minimizing the increasing road accidents in the country.

Speaking during the Urgent Time in the meeting of the National Assembly on Wednesday, they urged the government to pay attention to the issue of road safety. Lawmaker Bimala Ghimire drew the attention of the government towards the escalation in the number of road accidents over the years, calling for making arrangement for providing free medical treatment to the people injured in road accidents.

"The increasing number of accidents day by day shows how risky our roadways are. Accidents are increasing due to various factors, including the poor road condition, recklessness driving, operation of old vehicles and heavy traffic," she pointed out and called on the government to carry out the health check of vehicles, improve the roads and provide training to drivers and their helpers.

Lawmaker Jayanti Rai urged the government to bring a special plan aimed at mitigating road accidents, saying that road casualties are on an increasing trend. Krishna Bahadur Rokaya also drew the attention of the government on taking urgent steps to reduce road fatalities while Maya Prasad Sharma called on the government to make arrangements for safe road transportation by upgrading the roads.

Lawmaker Mohammad Khalid said the loss of lives due to road accidents is staggering and urged government intervention in making road travel safer. Lawmaker Tula Prasad Bishwokarma urged the government to take immediate steps for minimizing road accidents. -- RSS