Rs 5000 cash reward for good Samaritans helping road victims: Govt

New Delhi: The union government has announced Rs 5,000 cash rewards for good samaritans who help road accident victims.

Anyone who saves the life of road accident victims by rushing them to the nearest hospital will get the reward, the government said.

According to the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways (MoRTH) guidelines, the scheme will begin from October 15, 2021, and will be in force till March 31, 2026.

This is being done to encourage altruistic behaviour of helping road accident victims. Minister Nitin Gadkari recently said that 3,66,138 road accidents occurred in the country in 2020 and caused 1,31,714 deaths. Many of those lives could have been saved if people had stopped to rush the victims to a hospital.

“The scheme for grant of an award to the Good Samaritan who has saved the life of a victim of a fatal accident involving a motor vehicle by administering immediate assistance and rushing to hospital/trauma Care Centre within the Golden Hour of the accident to provide medical treatment,” the MoRTH statement said.

The prize will be accompanied by a certificate of being a Good Samaritan.

This isn’t the first time such a scheme is being announced. In 2019, the Puducherry government had announced a similar scheme. Then, other states followed the suit and now the Centre has come out with an identical scheme.