During the inaugural session of a two-day seminar on ‘Latest emerging trends and technologies in road and bridge construction', in Bhopal, he said India has the second largest road network with 63 lakh kilometres.

"In the coming time, Indian road infrastructure will be even better than that of America. We will do it," addressing the gathering of over 400 participants, most of them engineering backgrounds from across the country.

He also urged state governments to develop a sense of responsibility towards the safety of people. The Union Minister advised states to engage students from engineering colleges to rectify the mistakes in DPRs.

The Union minister further said that the number of people who die in road accidents every year is more than the lives lost during the Covid-19 pandemic or any war.

The minister said about 1.78 lakh people, including doctors and engineers, die in road accidents every year, which is a serious concern and needs to be addressed.

These accidents cause a 3 per cent loss to the country's GDP, he added. Road safety and the environment need to be improved to give a better life to people, he said.

He said people need to be socially conscious, sensitive and responsible as it is the most important thing for human beings. Black spots causing accidents should be identified and road engineering should be enhanced, he said.

Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Mohan Yadav, Chief Secretary Anurag Jain along with engineers and officials in the state Public Works Department (PWD) among others attended the event at Ravindra Bhawan.