Lucknow, April 19 -- In a push to curb rising road accident deaths, 20 worst-affected districts are chalking out action plans even as the state transport department is gearing up to engage IIT Kharagpur as its technical partner to analyse accident data and support road safety measures across Uttar Pradesh, a senior transport official said. Chief minister Yogi Adityanath, while chairing the State Road Safety Council meeting last month, directed the transport department and other stakeholders to implement a detailed action plan aimed at reducing road accident fatalities in the state by 50% by the end of this year. The CM ordered targeted interventions in 20 districts with the highest accident death rates. These districts are Hardoi, Mathura, Lucknow, Bulandshahr, Kanpur Nagar, Prayagraj, Sitapur, Unnao, Barabanki, Lakhimpur-Khiri, Bareilly, Aligarh, Gautam Buddha Nagar, Shahjahanpur, Gorakhpur, Kushinagar, Badaun and Meerut. "On the CM's directives, we have asked DMs and transport department officials to jointly chalk out district-specific action plans with a view to curtailing road accident deaths by 50% in the 20 targeted distracts in particular and in the remaining 55 districts in general, transport commissioner Brajesh Narayan Singh said. He said the 20 districts with the highest number of deaths had been asked to submit their action plan by mid-April and others later, but the plans, he added, had not been received yet because of officials being busy in matters related to the closure of the financial year "On Monday, we will hold a meeting to review the progress," he said. Officials said the 20 targeted districts together accounted for 42% of over 24,000 deaths in road mishaps reported in UP in 2024, with Hardoi being on the top of the list. It is believed that focus on these districts may help achieve the goal of reducing deaths by 50% by the turn of the current year. In the meantime, the transport department is planning to engage the IIT-Kharagpur as its technological partner to help it reduce an increasing number of road accidents and resultant deaths in the state. According to the transport commissioner, the final proposal in this regard had already been forwarded to the state government for approval. "After the government's nod, we will sign a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with the IIT-Kharagpur. The premier institute will be responsible for identifying causes of road accidents, analysing the accident data and suggesting measures, among other things," Singh said....