In news- The Ministry of Road Transport and Highways (MoRTH) recently launched a scheme for ‘Good Samaritans’.
About the scheme-
- The scheme would be effective from October 15, 2021 till March 31, 2026.
- The ministry issued guidelines for the “scheme for grant of 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”.
- A cash award of ₹5,000 will be given to those who save the life of a road accident victim by rushing him/her to hospital within the ‘golden hour’ of the mishap.
- ‘Golden hour‘ refers to the 1-hour time period following a traumatic injury during which there is the highest likelihood of preventing death by providing prompt medical care.
- Every cash award would be accompanied with a certification of appreciation.
- There will be 10 national level awards for the most worthy Good Samaritans (to be selected from all those who have been awarded during the whole year) and they would be given an award of ₹1,00,000 each.
- If more than one Good Samaritan saves the life of more than one victim, the amount of award will be ₹5,000 per victim saved, subject to maximum ₹5,000 per Good Samaritan.
- If the Good Samaritan takes the road accident victim to the hospital directly, the hospital will provide all the details to the concerned police station and the police will then provide an acknowledgement to such Good Samaritan.
- As per provisions under Section 134A of the Motor Vehicle Amendment Act 2019, rules for Good Samaritans had been notified by the ministry on September 29, 2020.
- To start the scheme, the Centre would provide ₹5 lakh as an initial grant to the transport department of all states and Union territories for rewarding the Good Samaritans.
Source: The Hindu
