Union Minister Nitin Gadkari has John F Kennedy's quote in his office; here's what it says

Union Minister for Road Transport and Highways, Nitin Gadkari recently revealed that he has kept former US President John F Kennedy's famous statement in his office. The quote reads, "American roads are good not because America is rich, but America is rich because American roads are good."

Gadkari's comments came at the Agenda Aaj Tak programme in New Delhi on Wednesday.

This is not the first time that the senior Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader has mentioned about this quote of the former US President. Earlier this year, while addressing a gathering in Rajasthan, Gadkari had said that he often repeats the words of John F Kennedy and mentioned the quote.

"By the end of 2024, Rajasthan's roads will be made at par with those of America's. Due to these roads, Rajasthan will also become a happy and prosperous state," Gadkari had said then.

At the Agenda Aaj Tak event, Nitin Gadkari also talked about why the target to reduce the number of road accidents and the resulting deaths in the country by half has been pushed from 2024 to 2030. He said that his department has not been successful in stopping road accidents and the resulting deaths.

"We are improving the black spots in road engineering. Our problem is that we are not able to change human behaviour which is why the problem persists. With the support of media and the people, we will change the mindset of people and bring about more respect towards road safety laws. While we have not been successful so far, we will surely achieve the desired results in future," he said.

In September 2022, Nitin Gadkari had called upon all the state transport ministers and officials to work together to reduce road accidents and the resultant deaths by 50 per cent by 2024.

A report by Ministry of Road Transport and Highways (MoRTH) shows that the number of road accidents in India went up 12 per cent to over 4.6 lakh in 2022, resulting in deaths of 19 people every hour.

The report showed that 53 road accidents take place every hour in the country.

"A total of 4,61,312 road accidents have been reported by states and Union Territories (UTs) during the calendar year 2022, which claimed 1,68,491 lives and caused injuries to 4,43,366 people."

"This marks an increase of 11.9 per cent in accidents, 9.4 per cent in fatalities, and 15.3 per cent in injuries compared to the previous year," the report titled 'Road accidents in India -- 2022' had said.

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