“Award to Good Samaritan” scheme goes in limbo for a mere formality; States failed to respond
Kanwar Inder Singh/ royalpatiala.in
Last year Ministry of Road Transport & Highways has launched a “Good Samaritan” scheme for Award to the person who has saved life of a victim of a fatal accident involving a motor vehicle by administering immediate assistance and rushing to Hospital/ Trauma Care Centre within the Golden Hour of the accident to provide medical treatment on 03.10.2021. As per the Scheme Guidelines, the amount of award for each Good Samaritan would be Rs. 5,000/- per incident.
This important scheme is going in limbo just for a small formality as states failed to respond. As per the latest reminder issued by the ministry, till date the states, union territories fail to provide bank account details under this scheme.
As per the Scheme Guidelines, the amount of award for each Good Samaritan would be Rs. 5,000/- per incident. The seriousness of the states, union territories in handling this issue can be gauged from the fact that the ministry has to issue reminders to the authorities to just provide the bank details of the state so that the ministry can release the initial grant of Rs 5.00 lacs to them. The union ministry has issued a latest Reminder-4 on June 30,2022.
Ministry of Road Transport and Highways has formulated Rules regarding the rights of Good Samaritan vide notification dated 29.09.2020 (GSR 594(E) to motivate the general public to help the road accident victims in emergency situation.
As per the information available with the Ministry, total number of road accidents in the country during the last three calendar years from 2018 to 2020 is given in the table below:
| Year | Total Number of Road Accidents
(in numbers) |
% change |
| 2018 | 4,67,044 | – |
| 2019 | 4,49,002 | -3.86 |
| 2020 | 3,66,138 | -18.46 |
Besides, this Ministry has also issued a scheme on 21.09.2021, namely “Scheme of Financial Assistance for Administering Road Safety Advocacy and Awards for the outstanding work done in the field of road safety” through which various NGOs and other organizations organize different road safety related activities including activities to motivate general public to help the road accident victims in emergency situation and awareness about it.
“Award to Good Samaritan” scheme goes in limbo for a mere formality; States failed to respond . Meanwhile, state transport commissioner Vimal Kumar Setia, can’t be contacted despite repeated contacts.
July 2,2022
