Supreme Court Road Safety Committee Chairman Justice A. M. Sapre Calls on Goa to Become India’s First Zero-Fatality State Within Three Years
Panaji (Goa) [India], July 24: ITS India Forum has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the Government of Goa — the first formal partnership between the Forum and any State Government in India — and, in collaboration with the State Government, organised the first-ever ITS India Pavilion (Expo) and Technical conference, a national showcase of proven, high-impact road safety technologies. The MoU was signed on the sidelines of the World Youth Skills Day celebrations organised by the Government of Goa at the Kala Academy, establishing a long-term framework for cooperation on Intelligent Transportation Systems (ITS), road safety, skill development, standards and innovation.
The partnership reflects a shared commitment to safer, smarter and digitally connected transport systems aligned with the national vision of Viksit Bharat 2047, and recognises that ITS depends on skilled human capital and institutional readiness as on technology.
India’s First ITS India Pavilion (Expo) and Technical conference
Alongside the MoU signing, ITS India Forum organised the first-ever ITS India Pavilion (Expo) and Technical conference in collaboration with the Government of Goa, a large-scale expo showcasing proven, high-impact global technologies — including AI-based cameras, Connected Vehicle and Infrastructure Technologies, and advanced sensor systems — that have helped reduce road accidents and fatalities in countries around the world. The Pavilion and Technical conference were inaugurated by the Hon’ble Chief Minister of Goa, Dr PramodSawant, and was visited by the Chairman of the Supreme Court Committee on Road Safety (SCCoRS), Hon’ble Justice Shri A. M. Sapre, along with SCCoRS Member Shri Sanjay Bandopadhyay, IAS (Retd). The event generated significant excitement among Goa’s local technology industry and the State’s transport department, positioning Goa as an early adopter of globally proven road safety technology.
Supreme Court Road Safety Chief Calls for a Zero-Fatality Goa
Speaking at the event, Justice Sapre urged the Hon’ble Chief Minister to make Goa India’s first Zero Fatality State within the next three years. Goa recorded 263 road fatalities in 2025, and Justice Sapre noted that with sincere, dedicated efforts by the State Government — including implementation of an Electronic Enforcement Policy powered by the latest ITS technologies — this target can be achieved quickly.
“Intelligent technological interventions can reduce fatalities quickly and effectively — they act as a double-edged weapon against the road safety menace, scaling up enforcement on one side while alerting drivers in real time to surrounding risks on the other.”
Drawing on his extensive study of, and visits to, countries that have successfully reduced road fatalities, Justice Sapre said intelligent technology offers the fastest and most effective path forward on road safety. During his visit, he held a series of meetings with senior Goa administration officials — including the Chief Secretary, the Police Commissioner, the Transport Secretary, District Collectors and other administrative officers — to press the case for a Zero Fatality Goa, an outcome he noted would not only save lives but also strengthen Goa’s tourism economy. He set a target of reducing fatalities by 100 every year, adding that with sustained effort, Goa could match Sweden’s zero-fatality record within the next two-and-a-half to three years.
Objectives of the MoU
Signed in the presence of the Chief Minister, the MoU sets out a structured purpose for the partnership: to jointly identify, evaluate and deploy intelligent mobility solutions across the State; to build a skilled ITS workforce through training and certification; to align deployments with national standards and interoperability requirements; and to create an institutional mechanism through which government departments and industry work together continuously rather than project by project.
Chief Minister Reviews ITS Technologies on Display
The Hon’ble Chief Minister of Goa visited the ITS exhibition stalls set up at the venue and interacted with every participating organisation. He reviewed the technologies on display, discussed deployment models and use cases with industry representatives, and took note of the proposals presented to the State Government. The interaction gave industry direct access to the highest level of the State leadership and was seen as a strong signal of Goa’s intent to adopt intelligent mobility at scale.
Addressing the gathering, the Chief Minister spoke about the State’s ongoing initiatives in Intelligent Transportation Systems and Intelligent Traffic Management Systems. He highlighted the deployment of AI-based cameras across 26 junctions, and underlined the importance of technology-led enforcement, automated incident detection and data-driven traffic management in improving road safety. He added that the MoU will help the State convert these individual deployments into a coherent, standards-aligned state-wide programme.
Technical Sessions and Industry Participation
The programme featured a plenary session on ‘Trends in ITS, Skilling and Capacity Building for Road Safety’, followed by a panel discussion on ‘Safe, Sustainable and Intelligent Mobility: Technology, Infrastructure and Policy’. Together they covered the future ITS workforce, quality assurance, standards and interoperability, digital infrastructure, connected and sustainable mobility, policy frameworks and digital governance.
Bringing together solution providers, system integrators, academic institutions and government practitioners, the sessions moved from deployment case studies into a wide-ranging debate on how ITS projects should be specified and evaluated, and how the shortage of trained ITS professionals can be addressed through structured curricula and certification. The Director of Skill Development and Entrepreneurship, officials from the Directorates of Transportation and Higher Education, and Deputy Directors and senior officials brought an administrative perspective to the discussion on institutional readiness. Datacorp, Prama, ITSPE, Wizpro, SAU, Danlaw and Onnyx were among the companies that attended.
At the ITS stall, certificates were presented to drivers who had completed training modules, reinforcing the Forum’s position that frontline skilling of drivers, operators and maintenance personnel is as critical to road safety outcomes as the technology itself.
Government of Goa – ITS Industry Meet (Day 2; 16th July,2026)
On the second day, a dedicated Government of Goa – ITS Industry Meet was convened. The Director, Directorate of Skill Development and Entrepreneurship attended with his team, joined by the Director of Transport, the Director of Higher Education, Deputy Directors and other senior State Government officials. The Officer on Special Duty to the Chief Minister personally witnessed the discussions.
Industry participants presented ITS innovations and set out the practical challenges of large-scale deployment: fragmented procurement, the absence of common data standards across departments, integration with legacy systems, operations and maintenance capacity, and the availability of trained personnel. Government officials responded with the State’s priorities and constraints, making it a working-level exchange rather than a ceremonial one.
Constitution of a Joint Task Force on ITS
The most significant outcome of the meet was the decision to constitute a joint Task Force on Intelligent Transportation Systems, comprising representatives of the Transport, Skill Development and Entrepreneurship, and Higher Education departments together with the ITS industry, and coordinated by ITS India Forum as the convening and secretariat body. Its mandate is to evaluate projects already implemented, including the AI-based camera and enforcement systems at the State’s junctions; identify gaps in coverage, integration, data quality, interoperability, operations and maintenance and institutional capacity; and define the additional technology, standards, processes and skilling interventions needed to make Goa a fully ITS-enabled State. Its findings are expected to inform the roadmap for pilot projects and deployments under the MoU.
Proposed Centre of Experience, Excellence and Skill Development
The meeting also discussed establishing a Centre of Experience, Excellence and Skill Development in the State, a single facility for hands-on exposure to ITS technologies, structured training and certification, and demonstration and testing of solutions before wider rollout. Its feasibility, location, ownership and funding model will be explored further under the collaboration.
Goa to Scale Camera-Based Enforcement Ten-Fold in 15 Days
The Transport Secretary of Goa held a detailed meeting with Shri Akhilesh Srivastava, President, ITS India Forum, on 16–17 July 2026, to understand the finer intricacies of the technological developments showcased at the event. The Transport Secretary said that the State would increase its operational camera count from 10 to 101 within the next 15 days, adding 91 new cameras mapped to potentially risky and near-miss spots across Goa.
Shri Srivastava advised the Transport Secretary to add an AI layer over the violation detection platform, noting that with camera numbers scaling up, it would not be humanly possible to process the lakhs of violations detected daily without AI-assisted review. An AI layer, he said, can quickly identify clear violations and enable faster issuance of e-challans. Quicker detection and faster penalties through the electronic enforcement system, he added, will automatically instill a greater sense of responsibility among reckless drivers.
Speaking on the occasion, Shri Akhilesh Srivastava, President, ITS India Forum, described the MoU as a transformational moment for the Forum. He noted that the agreement marks a new era of state-level collaboration that will help translate national policy into practical implementation, and added that Goa’s progressive approach offers an ideal platform for demonstrating scalable intelligent mobility solutions that can be replicated across the country.
As ITS India Forum expands its national footprint, the Goa partnership sets an important precedent for deeper collaboration with State Governments, a new chapter in which cooperative leadership, innovation and capacity building drive the next phase of intelligent transportation across India. Buoyed by the success of the ITS India Pavilion (Expo) and Technical conference, ITS India Forum has decided to host the Global ITS Summit (GITS Goa -2027).
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