Patna, Jan 4 (IANS): The Bihar transport department is working on a new policy on ex-gratia to the families of those killed in road accidents in the state.

On the first day of 2021, Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, during a review meeting of the transport department directed to create a 'revolving fund' and formulate a new policy on financial assistance to the families of those killed in road accidents.

Following the instructions from the Chief Minister, the transport department has started an exercise to formulate a new policy. Sources in the department said that in case of death in a road accident, the relatives of the deceased are given an ex-gratia grant by the Disaster Management department.

It is berlieved that the same rules are being tweaked by the transport department so that even after the death of one person, the victim's family will get government assistance.

Sources said that after the formulation of the new policy, if only one person dies in a road accident, then there is a possibility of giving Rs four lakh as ex-gratia to the victim's family.

The government believes that after the increase in the number of road accidents in the state, there was a need to formulate a new policy. During 2019, 7,205 people died in road accidents in Bihar while in 2018, the number of such deaths was 6,729.

The JD(U)-BJP government and the main opposition Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) have been raising the issue of road accident victims in the Bihar assembly.