Chandigarh, Aug 6: To fast-track road accident compensation and improving accountability, the Punjab Transport Department has directed that all crash sites be mandatorily videographed by the police and concerned agencies. The footage is to be uploaded on the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways’ central portal, e-DAR, which is designed to process detailed accident reports and streamline compensation claims.
“The idea is to remove ambiguity and delay in accident investigations,” a senior official from the Transport Department told The Tribune. “We want victims’ families to get justice faster and with greater transparency.”
The e-Detailed Accident Report (e-DAR) portal, developed by the Ministry, connects multiple stakeholders—police, hospitals, and road authorities—on a single digital platform. From the moment police reach the accident site to the registration of an FIR and the victim’s evacuation to the nearest hospital, every step is documented and reflected in real time.
The Ministry’s latest data shows that hit-and-run incidents contribute to 18.1 percent of all road accident deaths nationwide. Fatalities among pedestrians remain a persistent concern—18 percent in urban areas and 13 percent in rural regions, according to the same report.
“The e-DAR system is a turning point in how we document and respond to road mishaps,” said a senior official, adding that the platform is integrated with the Integrated Road Accident Database (iRAD) and requires minimal data entry. Over 90 percent of the datasets are automatically uploaded from integrated government systems, drastically reducing paperwork and human error.
The portal offers geo-tagging of crash sites, interactive site maps, and real-time updates for investigation teams, including their distance from the incident spot. Photographs, video footage, details of damaged vehicles, injured persons, and even eyewitness accounts are included.
In addition, the platform is linked to other government portals such as Vaahan, giving access to vehicle registration and driver license records, ensuring greater authenticity in investigations.
Officials from the Public Works Department (PWD) and related agencies will also be deployed to accident sites, especially those identified as black spots—locations prone to repeated crashes—for deeper analysis. “We aim to not just compensate, but also prevent,” the official noted. “The portal allows us to identify and rectify accident-prone zones with data-backed interventions.”
With the new mandate in place, Punjab becomes part of a growing nationwide push to bring transparency and speed to accident-related processes.
