The Odisha government has launched a scheme, Rakshyak, which aims at training 30,000 people who would serve as First Responders to road accidents.

The volunteers will be equipped with first aid boxes to provide the medical treatment required in the first 30 minutes after an accident. All of them would be trained in the next 30 weeks.

In a bid to improve road safety, the state government’s transport department on Thursday signed an MoU with Save Life Foundation (SLF), an NGO working towards road safety in the country.

“We will take steps to reduce the road fatality as per the remedial measures suggested by SLF. We will try to create a zero fatality corridor which aims at reducing the number of accident-related deaths,” said transport commissioner, Arun Bothra.

According to the government’s plan, these 30,000 people will be selected mostly from among those working in roadside eateries, business establishments and would be trained as first responders.

Under the initiative, experts from Automotive Skills Development Council (ASDC) will train 300 master trainers. Later, they will move across the state to train other people.

The state government would give a cash prize of Rs 2,000 to the good samaritans who save human lives.

People critically injured in accidents will be entitled to receive a compensation of Rs 50,000, officials said.

Commerce and transport minister Padmanabha Behera told The Telegraph, “We will provide financial assistance of Rs 2 lakh to the legal heir of the accident victims who die in the accident from the Solarium fund.”

The rising number of road accidents in the state has become a major cause of concern. It has gone up by 21 per cent. “The rakshaks will serve as life savers’ said officials. The number of deaths in accidents has gone up from 3,931 deaths in 2014 to 4,738 in 2020.