The state government’s Safe Drive Save Life campaign will become a global model one day, chief minister Mamata Banerjee said on Friday, as she called for greater efforts to promote more responsible road behaviour among people.
Speaking at the ‘Jaya Hey’ cultural event organised by Kolkata Police at the Netaji Indoor Stadium, Miss Banerjee lauded the dedication of the police force, particularly the traffic police, to their work.
“Be it storm or blazing sun, they are always to be found at their posts. They are determined to make the ‘Safe drive, Save life’ slogan into reality,” she said. “A massive sensitisation programme has been taken up to make people aware of traffic rules. For this, road safety weeks, street corner meetings and even children are being deployed to give more teeth to the campaign,” Miss Banerjee said.
Miss Banerjee asked all stake holders, from police to the citizen in the street, to make ‘Safe drive, save life’ a reality.
Stressing on the importance of the campaign, the chief minister said that a couple with their child had come to her residence with a plea to promote the campaign throughout the country.
“Even Sikkim is emulating the campaign,” Miss Banerjee said, adding that other states will also follow suit soon.
The chief minister said the families of the police personnel are their greatest inspiration in their work. “The way the police work round the clock cannot be possible without the inspiration of their family members. Police may commit some blunders but that does not mean that the people will lose faith in them. More often than not it is seen that people blame police if an accident happens. That does not mean that people have lost faith in them. It means they need the police to be present there,”Miss Banerjee said.
Miss Banerjee said apart from ensuring the security of the common man, the law enforcers are undertaking social services, which seldom comes to notice.
Earlier, the chief minister inaugurated a police Football Academy to nurture budding players. She also handed over special awards to Akhilesh Chaturvedi, the Darjeeling superintendent of police, and Kunal Agarwal, the SP, Birbhum.