Title - North Central Railway organises week-long awareness drive

ALLAHABAD: The International Level Crossing Awareness Day (ILCAD) was observed in North Central Railway region on Thursday. An awareness programme was organized where locals were informed about taking precautions while passing through the level crossings.It is pertinent to mention that every year, International Union of Railways (UIC) observes one day as the International Level Crossing Awareness Day and this year June 7 is being observed as ILCAD. Various programmes were organized among the road users near the unmanned railway crossings in the North Central Railway zone.In this connection, an awareness campaign was organized under the leadership of Financial Analyst and Chief Administrative Officer (FA&CAO)/ Indian Railways Project Management Unit. During the awareness rally, nukkad natak was also organized. In the programme, the people were informed about various precautions that need to be adopted while passing through the unmanned level crossings.Pointedly, the number of unmanned level crossing accidents occurring on Indian Railways is a cause of concern. At present, there are total 31,846 number of level crossings over the Indian Railways out of which 13530 are unmanned.The current awareness drive would be proceed in the entire week. This drive would specially target safety at unmanned level crossings. On this occasion, public awareness campaign would be organized to counsel villagers, educational institutions and road users and make them aware of the provision of Motor vehicles Act and Railway Act by distributing posters, pamphlets, handbills in gram panchayats, markets, petrol pumps and other public places.It is pertinent to mention that many publicity campaign through various media including newspapers, television, radio are being organised. Nukkad nataks are also being organized near the unmanned crossings so that people should be made aware about the safety measures that should be adopted while crossing the unmanned crossings.To enhance the safety and reduce inconvenience to road users, busy level crossings are being replaced by Road Over Bridges(ROB)/ Road Under Bridges(RUB) and Limited Height Sub Ways(LHS).Meanwhile, in Varanasi to mark the International Level Crossing Awareness Day, North Eastern Railways (NER) has organised a week-long awareness drive to educate people about the crossing rules and safety measures.The week-long drive will focus on five level crossing at Aurihar, Kadipur and Varanasi regions. Posters, calendars, placards and pamphlets will be distributed to the people at these crossings.Meanwhile, around 22 passengers were caught in a special drive carried out by NER to check the increasing cases of chain pulling at Maduadeeh-Allahabad, Varanasi city-Aurihar, Aurihar-Balia, Balia-Chhapra, Aurihar-Mau-Bhatni, Gorakhpur-Chhapra regions from June 1 to June 7.