A provincial workshop on road safety was held in Birendranagar, Surkhet on April 17, jointly organized by the National Road Safety Council, Ministry of Physical Infrastructure and Urban Development (MoPIUD) , and Asian Development Bank to push for endorsement of the Road Safety Bill and stronger implementation of the 2021–2030 action plan.

Addressing the event, Minister Sher Bahadur Budha, Ministry of Physical Infrastructure and Urban Development informed that road crashes cost Nepal about 1.5 percent of GDP and cause around seven deaths daily, citing “weak coordination, poor enforcement, and unsafe road and vehicle conditions” as major issues. He also criticized unregulated dozer use in rural roads, saying it must be corrected.

The sessions were conducted by Nepal Traffic Police (Traffic Chief, SP Mukunda Rijal), Karnali Province; MoPIUD (Er. Arjun Kumar Bam, Secretary); NRSC (Er. Saroj Kumar Pradhan, Technical Advisor); and ADB (Er. Hemant Tiwari, Senior Project Officer – Transport, and Er. Samiksha Adhikari, Transport/Road Safety Engineer) and the program was moderated by  Subha Khanal (ADB Consultant)

The event highlighted key resolutions such as legal reforms, mandatory road safety audits, stricter enforcement and awareness, improved ambulance and emergency response, safer high-risk zones (schools/intersections), removal of unfit vehicles, and integrated road safety planning.

Officials closed the workshop reaffirming commitment to making road safety a national priority.