Only 2 posts of special cell for road safety filled in 2 yrs

Two years after a special cell for road safety was created in Maharashtra under the transport commissioner office, 14 out of its total 16 posts are still lying vacant, officials said on Wednesday. State Transport Minister Anil Parab, however, attributed this delay to the coronavirus pandemic. Maharashtra is one of the worsthit states in terms of road accidents. In 2020, the state had witnessed 25,456 road accidents and 11,452 fatalities. Officials in the Maharashtra Motor Vehicles Department said that acting on the Supreme Court's directive, the state government had set up the lead agency (special cell) for road safety in December 2018 to handle the state-wide road safety- related activities and created 16 new posts, including a joint transport commissioner (Road Safety) for it. Of these, five posts are supposed to be filled on deputation, whereas the remaining supervisory and clerical posts were on contractual basis, the officials said.