Rs 5,000 award for those who help road accident victims in Vizag

The Central Government scheme, ‘Good Samaritan’, which aims at bringing down the fatalities in road accidents, by rewarding the citizens who help by rushing the victims to the hospital within the ‘Golden Hours’, has come into force in Vizag. Under this scheme, any person who saves the life of a victim in a road accident by rushing them to a hospital or a trauma centre will be rewarded Rs. 5,000. 

Speaking to Yo! Vizag, District Transport Officer (DTO), GC Rajaratnam, informed that the ‘Good Samaritan’ scheme was aimed at motivating the general public to help road accident victims. He added that with the cash prize, and no legal formalities attached, more people will be incentivized to come forward to help without any reluctance. The single objective of this scheme is to bring down the death toll and help road accident victims in Vizag. 

Explaining the procedure, Mr. Rajaratnam said, after a Good Samaritan rushes the victim to the hospital or a trauma centre, the doctor concerned will inform the police. Police will write down the details of the person in a format and forward it to that District Appraisal Committee. In Visakhapatnam, the committee comprises of the District Collector, the City Police Commissioner, or Superintendent of Police, the District Medical and Health Officer, and the District Transport Officer. Those who come forward to rush accident victims to the hospital need to alert the DTO about the life-saving exercise they volunteered to take up.

Post the scrutiny of information by the District Appraisal Committee, the award of Rs. 5,000 shall be given. In the event of two people saving the life of a road accident victim, the Rs. 5,000 rewards under this scheme will be divided between them. The amount of the award will be Rs. 5,000 per victim saved subject to a maximum of Rs. 5,000 per good samaritan. 

A cherry on the top, there will be ten national-level awards each year for the worthiest Good Samaritans. The top 10 will be selected from all those who have been awarded during the entire year. The selected 10 would additionally be given an award of Rs. 1 lakh each, a letter of appreciation and a trophy.

It could be noted that in August, 2021, the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways informed the Parliament that a total of 3,66,138 road accidents occurred in India during the calendar year 2020, causing 1,31,714 deaths. In one of its remedies to bring down the death tolls due to road accidents, the Ministry issued an order on 3 October, 2021, introducing the ‘Good Samaritan’ scheme.