The interim government is taking responsibilities for the failure to reduce road crashes and deaths last year, Road Transport and Bridges Ministry Adviser Muhammad Fouzul Kabir Khan said today.

Taking the responsibility, the ministry is going to take several steps to curb the road crashes and deaths, the adviser told reporters after two meetings in this regard today at the headquarters of Bangladesh Road Transport Authority (BRTA).

The adviser said Road Safety Foundation recently gave them data that 7,294 people were killed and over 12,000 injured in road crashes last year, which is 12 percent more than the previous year.

"We, the interim government, is taking responsibility for it. We are taking responsibility that we could not reduce the number of road crashes and deaths. Rather, it increased," he said.

Particularly, BRTA and police are taking responsibly for it, he added.

He said they have taken a decision to hand over compensation for the treatment of the injured as soon as possible following the relevant law.

The adviser said BRTA official will be held directly responsible for any road crashes occurred due to lack of fitness of vehicles and licences of drivers.

Replying to another question, he said other agencies including Roads and Highways Department will also be held responsible if road crashes occur due to their failure or negligence.

Over 4.5 lakh applications for driving licences are now pending with the BRTA, he said with a hope to issue all these licence within next March.

BRTA will also take step to simplify the process regarding the issuance of the driving licences.

The interim government took office on August 8, last year following the mass uprising.