Despite Maharashtra witnessing 36,567 fatalities and 83,820 road accidents between January 2023 and April 2025, a top road safety council headed by the state transport minister has not met even once in two years, officials said on Sunday.

Such is the situation that Transport Minister Pratap Sarnaik said he was not even aware of the existence of the State Road Safety Council. The last meeting of the State Road Safety Council was held on April 4, 2023, under Eknath Shinde, the current deputy chief minister. He was the chief minister at the time and held the transport portfolio, these officials said.

After the Maharashtra government constituted the council as per rule 215 of the Central Motor Vehicles Rules in May 2015, biannual meetings, which are mandatory, were held regularly till 2019, following which only four meetings took place till 2023, they pointed out. From 2015, there should have been 20 meetings of the State Road Safety Council as per the rules, but only 12 have taken place, a senior official said on the condition 
of anonymity.