The Hindu : Tamil Nadu / Chennai News : Automobile Association proposes series of short films on road safety

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Friday, Mar 31, 2006

Tamil Nadu

Tamil Nadu - Chennai

Automobile Association proposes series of short films on road safety

Sandhya Soman

Films will target children below 10, driving licence holders

CHENNAI: The Automobile Association of Southern India (AASI) has proposed to the government a series of short films on road safety.

The proposal comes in the wake of the amendment of the Tamil Nadu Road Safety Fund Rules, 2000 to fund proposals from NGOs working in the area of road safety.

"We plan to produce 15-minute films for road users in different categories — children below 10, cyclists, four wheeler drivers and transport vehicle drivers," M. K. Subramanian, AASI secretary, said.

Once the project gets approval, a production house would start work on the script, he said.

Case-by-case basis

According to a senior transport department official, the proposals would be considered on a case-by-case basis. This year's Rs. 6 crore-fund would be allocated depending on the kind of work the NGO has been doing.

"An inter-departmental committee will check the antecedents of the organisation. Requests for financial assistance will be considered only in case of robust NGOs that submit quality project proposals," he said.

The projects could range from training local volunteers in administering first aid to accident victims to coming up with short films on road safety.

"Once the committee gives its approval, money will be released to the department concerned. In the case of NGOs, the district collector will release the money and monitor the programme till the end of March 2007," said the official.

According to S. Sainath, trustee of Concert, sustained campaigns by NGOs can make a difference.

"As part of SAFE (Society for Automotive Fitness and Environment), we conducted a helmet awareness campaign in 2003. We addressed captains of industry and distributed pamphlets in petrol bunks for a month," Mr. Sainath recalled.

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