Kolkata: Kolkata Police, civic agencies, and the state health department held discussions to streamline the implementation of three major central govt schemes aimed at improving emergency medical care for road accident victims and reducing traffic fatalities across the city.The brought together top police officials, transport department executives, and health administrators to coordinate action on the ‘Rah-Veer’ scheme, the ‘PM-RAHAT’ scheme, and the Integrated Road Accident Database (iRAD) platform.During the meeting, the Joint Commissioner of Police (Traffic) and officials from the Kolkata Public Vehicles Department (PVD) emphasized the critical importance of the “Golden Hour”—the crucial first hour following a road crash when prompt medical intervention drastically increases the chances of survival. It called for a goal driven campaign to popularize the Rah Veer scheme.Under the central ‘Rah-Veer’ (Good Samaritan) scheme, individuals who transport road accident victims to a medical facility within the Golden Hour are eligible for a financial reward of Rs 25,000 alongside a Certificate of Appreciation. To encourage public participation, the scheme allows helpful citizens to receive recognition up to five times a year for separate acts of assistance. The parleys also focused on enforcing the “Prime Minister – Road Accident Victims’ Hospitalisation and Assured Treatment” (PM-RAHAT) scheme. Launched under Section 162 of the Motor Vehicles Act, 1988, the scheme mandates that every road accident victim receive cashless medical treatment up to Rs 1.5 lakh for up to seven days from the date of the incident on any category of road.Under the notified guidelines, designated hospitals are required to provide stabilization treatment to accident victims for up to 24 hours in non-life-threatening cases and up to 48 hours in life-threatening cases, subject to police response. Following requests from police leadership, the state health department will soon convene a meeting with private hospitals and key healthcare stakeholders to resolve operational issues and ensure seamless emergency care without upfront payment demands.To address the root causes of traffic mishaps, the commissioner of police Ajay Nand directed all partner departments to ensure regular updating of accident-related records on the Integrated Road Accident Database (iRAD) portal.Funded by the World Bank and initiated by the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways (MoRTH), the iRAD project collects detailed accident data nationwide to analyze crash patterns, identify high-risk spots, and support cross-country safety comparisons.To ensure strict compliance, police officials confirmed that a video conference will be organized shortly by the deputy commissioner of police (Traffic, South) to review data entry processes across all participating departments. City cops emphasized that tight coordination among police, transport, and health agencies remains vital to saving lives and creating safer roads.
