The Adani Group, which has bagged the contract to widen a portion of NH19 (erstwhile NH2) to six lanes, is laying special emphasis on generating road safety awareness and reducing the possibility of accidents on the highway.

The corporate house has shown interest in augmenting infrastructure in the state in areas like roads and ports.

After bagging the contract for the widening of NH19 — which connects Delhi to Calcutta and the work for which began earlier this year — the company (Adani Palsit Road Private Limited) observed a week-long road safety programme in East Burdwan district earlier this month.

The road safety awareness campaign was conducted between October 14 and 20. As part of the campaign, several camps were organised to make people aware of the practices to be followed to avoid road accidents.

“Over 1.4 lakh people lose their lives in road accidents in the country every year and the Adani Group is committed to reducing road accident deaths,” said an official of the company.

As part of the initiative, awareness camps were held at various locations such as Palsit Toll Plaza, Palla Road Junction, Shaktigarh Truck Lay Bay, Shaktigarh Mama Dhaba, Palsit Memari Road Hindustan Dhaba, Rasulpur Daluibazar School, Ulhas Junction, Darjeeling Road, Budbud and Galsi Service Road. Safety banners and hoardings were also fixed at many locations to showcase the importance of road safety.

“Reflective radium Stickers were fixed to motorbikes and three-wheelers and youngsters were counselled about the dangers of picking up high speed on sports bikes,” said a spokesperson for the company. Camps under the programme were also held at schools to create awareness among children.

The company has started the work to widen the Dankuni-Panagarh stretch of NH19 to a six-lane highway from the existing four-lane highway.

Sources said the widening project was initiated under the Centre’s Bharatmala project.

“This portion of the highway has a huge traffic load and has a number of blackspots where accidents have become a regular feature. This is why the widening and the road safety campaign are important,” said a source.