M/O Rt&H Intend to Set up one Automated Inspection & Certification Centre in All States /UTs by Scaling up Scheme on PPP Basis During 12th Plan
Dr. C.P. Joshi Addresses 13th Meeting of National Road Safety Council
The Union Minister for Road Transport & Highways Dr. C. P. Joshi has said that with a view to ensure that the quality of service rendered by the public transport system matches with the rising aspirations of the public, a scheme namely ‘Central Assistance to States / UTs for ‘Strengthening Public Transport System’ was launched by the Ministry. Addressing at the “13th Meeting of National Road Safety Council (NRSC)” here today, he said that though we have received proposals from some of the States and they have been sanctioned, the response is not that encouraging. He also advised the States to apply for the financial assistance under this scheme on priority basis.
He said that his ministry has undertaken a very important IT project as one of the Mission Mode Project under National e-Governance Programme which envisages creation of State and National Register of Driving Licence and Registration Certificates. Once the National and State registers are put in place, data will be made available on portal with secure access. Such data can also be accessed at the check posts to ensure that taxes have been paid and all documents are in order.
The Minister said that another important scheme is the issuance of documents like Driving License and Registration Certificate in smart card mode. This would definitely bring uniformity and inter-State operability of such documents. I would, therefore, request those State Governments who are yet to implement the Smart Card Project to kindly complete the work in a time bound manner.
He informed that In order to ensure that the ‘in use’ vehicles meet the required safety and pollution standards, we have designed a model of automated Inspection & Certification centre and have approved a scheme for setting up of 10 such Centres throughout the country.
Following is the text of the Minister’s address :
“I am extremely happy to be present here on the occasion of the Thirteenth Meeting of the National Road Safety Council and extend a warm and hearty welcome to all of you. I thank you all for sparing your valuable time in attending the meeting of this Apex body on Road Safety.
It may be recalled that during the last NRSC meeting it was decided that working groups will be formed to deliberate and give recommendations pertaining to the 4 E’s of Road Safety including both short term and long term recommendations which can be implemented to improve road safety scenario in the country. The five groups have now submitted their reports. I congratulate all the chairmen and members of these groups on bringing out such commendable reports on respective subjects pertaining to road safety.
Today, we will be discussing various issues having a direct impact on Road Safety. The agenda also includes certain items relating to transport system in the country which require inputs from all the stakeholders and which would also eventually impact road safety. There are a large number of issues on which we have to deliberate upon. However, I would like to draw your attention to some of the more critical areas.
The first and foremost thing which comes to my mind is the application of information technology in road transport sector as it would bring transparency, increase efficiency and help us to provide speedy and effective services to the public. It would also make enforcement easier.
We have undertaken a very important IT project as one of the Mission Mode Project under National e-Governance Programme which envisages creation of State and National Register of Driving Licence and Registration Certificates. Once the National and State registers are put in place, data will be made available on portal with secure access. Such data can also be accessed at the check posts to ensure that taxes have been paid and all documents are in order. My Ministry has launched the National Register, and also released the National Transport Portal in July, 2011 after linking the Regional Transport Offices throughout the Country. This could have been possible only with your active support and the undaunted efforts made by the NIC. Now we need to move on to the next stage by making available all the Citizen related services across all RTO’s in order to make visiting the RTO offices for obtaining Driving Licenses, etc a hassle free activity that reflects the IT capability under VAHAN and SARATHI. Also the database needs to identify duplicate and spurious driving licenses and make this integrated with the penalty enhancement proposed for subsequent offences under the Central Motor Vehicle Rules so that traffic offences are not treated as first time offences by the enforcement agencies on the spot due to lack of data on previous offences. We have plans to make this possible by utilizing the experiences of some State Govts who have demonstrated the use of technology for this purpose.
Another important scheme is the issuance of documents like Driving License and Registration Certificate in smart card mode. This would definitely bring uniformity and inter-State operability of such documents. I would, therefore, request those State Governments who are yet to implement the Smart Card Project to kindly complete the work in a time bound manner.
In order to have a more accurate database on Road Accidents based on GIS systems as has been done in Tamil Nadu under its Road Accident Database Management System, my Ministry has proposed setting up of these systems in each of the States/UTs during the Twelfth Five Year Plan. This would help in identification of the accident prone stretches and blackspots so that these could be taken up for engineering measures and public awareness to mitigate the causes of road accidents on a scientific basis at these spots. The State and District Road Safety Councils would need to meet regularly to monitor the measures undertaken to combat Road Accidents at these spots.
With a view to ensure that the quality of service rendered by the public transport system matches with the rising aspirations of the public, a scheme namely ‘Central Assistance to States / UTs for ‘Strengthening Public Transport System’ was launched by the Ministry. Though we have received proposals from some of the States and they have been sanctioned, the response is not that encouraging. I would also advise you to apply for the financial assistance under this scheme on priority basis.
Coming to amendment of Motor Vehicles Act, I am to inform you that my Ministry had introduced the Motor Vehicles (Amendment) Bill 2007 in the Rajya Sabha on 15th May, 2007. The Bill was examined by the Parliamentary Standing Committee. In the mean time we had also set up a Committee in September, 2009, under the Chairmanship of Shri S. Sundar, former Secretary in the Ministry to review the Act in a comprehensive manner. The Committee submitted its report to the Ministry on 2.2.2011. A Draft Cabinet Note was circulated to the appraising agencies on 14th March, 2011 for incorporating amendments in the light of the observations and recommendations of the Standing Committee. After taking into account the comments of the appraising agencies, amendments were prepared by the Ministry of Law. The Cabinet Note along with the official amendments has been sent to Cabinet for its approval so that the bill may be considered by Rajya Sabha during the next Budget Session.
In order to ensure that the ‘in use’ vehicles meet the required safety and pollution standards, we have designed a model of automated Inspection & Certification centre and have approved a scheme for setting up of 10 such Centres throughout the country. Sanction has already been issued for setting up I&C Centres in Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, NCT of Delhi and Maharashtra. We intend to set up one such automated centre in all the States/UTs by scaling up the scheme on PPP basis during the 12th Five Year Plan. You would appreciate that one centre in a State cannot cater to the requirement of huge vehicle population. As such, the States would need to replicate the model centres in other parts of the States/UTs.
Yet another aspect is the quality of our drivers. Studies indicate that 80% of the road accidents are attributable to the drivers, in one form or the other. The accidents caused by the drivers of heavy vehicles, which are relatively less in number, contribute to a disproportionately larger number of fatalities and casualties. Considering the size of the problem, we need to set up Model Driver Training Institutes aimed at producing skilled and safe drivers. Till now, we have provided assistance for setting up of 13 such schools in various States/UTs in the 10th Five Year Plan. 10 more such institutes are being set up during the 11th Five Year Plan. I am happy to inform you that sanction has already been accorded by the Ministry for setting up nine IDTR in the states of Himachal Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Maharashtra, Gujarat, Haryana, Tamil Nadu, Bihar and Tripura. These institutes will have world class infrastructure including tracks, hostel facilities, modern equipment like simulators and innovative driving test systems. The drivers coming out of these institutes will not only have adequate skill in driving but also will be fully familiar with various road safety measures. However, considering the magnitude of the problem and the paucity of the available resources, there is a considerable scope for public / private partnership in these fields. States may like to take advantage of the presence of leading auto-manufactures, industrial houses, etc., in their jurisdiction.
Another important issue which I would like to share with you is the setting up of a Road Safety Fund at the State level by pooling 50% penalties collected toward traffic violations to this fund. You might recall that this issue was also discussed in the 7th and 8th meetings of NRSC. The enforcement authorities (Traffic Police and Transport Department officials) are chronically short of manpower and equipments and budget provision. These activities need to be funded on a sustainable basis. Therefore I appeal all the states to set up road safety fund at the State level from the money collected by the State Governments by way of penalties for violation of traffic laws. My Ministry proposes to provide seed capital to promote the creation of a Road Safety Fund in all States during the next Five Year Plan.
The National Highways Authority of India has also initiated various activities for road safety. I would like to share with you that Ambulances, Route Patrol Vehicles and Tow Away Cranes are provided at an average length of 50 Km on NHs entrusted to NHAI. List of all Ambulances, Cranes & Route Patrol Vehicles along with their locations is available on NHAI website. At present total 223 Ambulances, 229 Route Patrol Vehicles and 198 Tow Away Cranes are in position. NHAI also plans to set up 24 hours Call Centre in addition a series of Workshops and Seminars on Road Safety Audit and Work Zone Safety including Workers Safety have been conducted by NHAI during the last two years to train the staff, Concessionaires and Consultants. NHAI has also started safety audit on its PPP funded projects.
Before I conclude, I would like to mention that our precious road infrastructure is suffering massive damages due to overloading of trucks. Overloading also causes severe accidents. A major reason for such a state of affairs is non-enforcement of the provisions of the Motor Vehicles Act - 1988 regarding mandatory off-loading of excess loads. After the judgment of the Hon’ble Supreme Court it has become clear that despite the provision of composition of the offence of overloading the enforcement authorities need to off load the excess weight besides levy of penalty / compounding fee.
The issue of strengthening of the Institutional framework at both the National and State level to deal with the entire gamut of road safety issues has been with us for several years now. The proposed National Traffic Management and Road Safety Board Bill has not been concurred with the Department Related Parliamentary Standing Committee in the framework that was proposed in the 2010 Bill. My Ministry has now engaged itself in creation of an Institutional framework as it is recognized that there are a lot of coordination issues with State/UT Governments and various stakeholders which are needed for any meaningful progress on addressing issues in Road Safety. It is a recognized fact that the current institutional capacities at the National as well as State levels need to be enhanced substantially to address the entire gamut of issues on road safety. This issue has been addressed in the XII Five Year Plan for funding these Institutional mechanisms so that a long term impact could be towards road safety.
Lastly, I would like to mention that in today’s meeting many fruitful as well as far reaching conclusions will be reached which will become the basis for the future work plan as far as Road Safety is concerned. I would also like to mention that the meeting of the National Road Safety Council will be held more frequently and we will together make it a more effective body. This will enable us to get your views on various aspects of Road Safety from time to time and help us in policy formulation.
I seek the full co-operation of all State Governments /Union Territories and other agencies concerned so that all the issues relating to this important sector could be addressed more vigorously in future. It is my fervent hope that the deliberations at this meeting will be useful and productive. I wish you all the best in your noble efforts.”
Dr. C.P. Joshi Addresses 13th Meeting of National Road Safety Council
The Union Minister for Road Transport & Highways Dr. C. P. Joshi has said that with a view to ensure that the quality of service rendered by the public transport system matches with the rising aspirations of the public, a scheme namely ‘Central Assistance to States / UTs for ‘Strengthening Public Transport System’ was launched by the Ministry. Addressing at the “13th Meeting of National Road Safety Council (NRSC)” here today, he said that though we have received proposals from some of the States and they have been sanctioned, the response is not that encouraging. He also advised the States to apply for the financial assistance under this scheme on priority basis.
He said that his ministry has undertaken a very important IT project as one of the Mission Mode Project under National e-Governance Programme which envisages creation of State and National Register of Driving Licence and Registration Certificates. Once the National and State registers are put in place, data will be made available on portal with secure access. Such data can also be accessed at the check posts to ensure that taxes have been paid and all documents are in order.
The Minister said that another important scheme is the issuance of documents like Driving License and Registration Certificate in smart card mode. This would definitely bring uniformity and inter-State operability of such documents. I would, therefore, request those State Governments who are yet to implement the Smart Card Project to kindly complete the work in a time bound manner.
He informed that In order to ensure that the ‘in use’ vehicles meet the required safety and pollution standards, we have designed a model of automated Inspection & Certification centre and have approved a scheme for setting up of 10 such Centres throughout the country.
Following is the text of the Minister’s address :
“I am extremely happy to be present here on the occasion of the Thirteenth Meeting of the National Road Safety Council and extend a warm and hearty welcome to all of you. I thank you all for sparing your valuable time in attending the meeting of this Apex body on Road Safety.
It may be recalled that during the last NRSC meeting it was decided that working groups will be formed to deliberate and give recommendations pertaining to the 4 E’s of Road Safety including both short term and long term recommendations which can be implemented to improve road safety scenario in the country. The five groups have now submitted their reports. I congratulate all the chairmen and members of these groups on bringing out such commendable reports on respective subjects pertaining to road safety.
Today, we will be discussing various issues having a direct impact on Road Safety. The agenda also includes certain items relating to transport system in the country which require inputs from all the stakeholders and which would also eventually impact road safety. There are a large number of issues on which we have to deliberate upon. However, I would like to draw your attention to some of the more critical areas.
The first and foremost thing which comes to my mind is the application of information technology in road transport sector as it would bring transparency, increase efficiency and help us to provide speedy and effective services to the public. It would also make enforcement easier.
We have undertaken a very important IT project as one of the Mission Mode Project under National e-Governance Programme which envisages creation of State and National Register of Driving Licence and Registration Certificates. Once the National and State registers are put in place, data will be made available on portal with secure access. Such data can also be accessed at the check posts to ensure that taxes have been paid and all documents are in order. My Ministry has launched the National Register, and also released the National Transport Portal in July, 2011 after linking the Regional Transport Offices throughout the Country. This could have been possible only with your active support and the undaunted efforts made by the NIC. Now we need to move on to the next stage by making available all the Citizen related services across all RTO’s in order to make visiting the RTO offices for obtaining Driving Licenses, etc a hassle free activity that reflects the IT capability under VAHAN and SARATHI. Also the database needs to identify duplicate and spurious driving licenses and make this integrated with the penalty enhancement proposed for subsequent offences under the Central Motor Vehicle Rules so that traffic offences are not treated as first time offences by the enforcement agencies on the spot due to lack of data on previous offences. We have plans to make this possible by utilizing the experiences of some State Govts who have demonstrated the use of technology for this purpose.
Another important scheme is the issuance of documents like Driving License and Registration Certificate in smart card mode. This would definitely bring uniformity and inter-State operability of such documents. I would, therefore, request those State Governments who are yet to implement the Smart Card Project to kindly complete the work in a time bound manner.
In order to have a more accurate database on Road Accidents based on GIS systems as has been done in Tamil Nadu under its Road Accident Database Management System, my Ministry has proposed setting up of these systems in each of the States/UTs during the Twelfth Five Year Plan. This would help in identification of the accident prone stretches and blackspots so that these could be taken up for engineering measures and public awareness to mitigate the causes of road accidents on a scientific basis at these spots. The State and District Road Safety Councils would need to meet regularly to monitor the measures undertaken to combat Road Accidents at these spots.
With a view to ensure that the quality of service rendered by the public transport system matches with the rising aspirations of the public, a scheme namely ‘Central Assistance to States / UTs for ‘Strengthening Public Transport System’ was launched by the Ministry. Though we have received proposals from some of the States and they have been sanctioned, the response is not that encouraging. I would also advise you to apply for the financial assistance under this scheme on priority basis.
Coming to amendment of Motor Vehicles Act, I am to inform you that my Ministry had introduced the Motor Vehicles (Amendment) Bill 2007 in the Rajya Sabha on 15th May, 2007. The Bill was examined by the Parliamentary Standing Committee. In the mean time we had also set up a Committee in September, 2009, under the Chairmanship of Shri S. Sundar, former Secretary in the Ministry to review the Act in a comprehensive manner. The Committee submitted its report to the Ministry on 2.2.2011. A Draft Cabinet Note was circulated to the appraising agencies on 14th March, 2011 for incorporating amendments in the light of the observations and recommendations of the Standing Committee. After taking into account the comments of the appraising agencies, amendments were prepared by the Ministry of Law. The Cabinet Note along with the official amendments has been sent to Cabinet for its approval so that the bill may be considered by Rajya Sabha during the next Budget Session.
In order to ensure that the ‘in use’ vehicles meet the required safety and pollution standards, we have designed a model of automated Inspection & Certification centre and have approved a scheme for setting up of 10 such Centres throughout the country. Sanction has already been issued for setting up I&C Centres in Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, NCT of Delhi and Maharashtra. We intend to set up one such automated centre in all the States/UTs by scaling up the scheme on PPP basis during the 12th Five Year Plan. You would appreciate that one centre in a State cannot cater to the requirement of huge vehicle population. As such, the States would need to replicate the model centres in other parts of the States/UTs.
Yet another aspect is the quality of our drivers. Studies indicate that 80% of the road accidents are attributable to the drivers, in one form or the other. The accidents caused by the drivers of heavy vehicles, which are relatively less in number, contribute to a disproportionately larger number of fatalities and casualties. Considering the size of the problem, we need to set up Model Driver Training Institutes aimed at producing skilled and safe drivers. Till now, we have provided assistance for setting up of 13 such schools in various States/UTs in the 10th Five Year Plan. 10 more such institutes are being set up during the 11th Five Year Plan. I am happy to inform you that sanction has already been accorded by the Ministry for setting up nine IDTR in the states of Himachal Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Maharashtra, Gujarat, Haryana, Tamil Nadu, Bihar and Tripura. These institutes will have world class infrastructure including tracks, hostel facilities, modern equipment like simulators and innovative driving test systems. The drivers coming out of these institutes will not only have adequate skill in driving but also will be fully familiar with various road safety measures. However, considering the magnitude of the problem and the paucity of the available resources, there is a considerable scope for public / private partnership in these fields. States may like to take advantage of the presence of leading auto-manufactures, industrial houses, etc., in their jurisdiction.
Another important issue which I would like to share with you is the setting up of a Road Safety Fund at the State level by pooling 50% penalties collected toward traffic violations to this fund. You might recall that this issue was also discussed in the 7th and 8th meetings of NRSC. The enforcement authorities (Traffic Police and Transport Department officials) are chronically short of manpower and equipments and budget provision. These activities need to be funded on a sustainable basis. Therefore I appeal all the states to set up road safety fund at the State level from the money collected by the State Governments by way of penalties for violation of traffic laws. My Ministry proposes to provide seed capital to promote the creation of a Road Safety Fund in all States during the next Five Year Plan.
The National Highways Authority of India has also initiated various activities for road safety. I would like to share with you that Ambulances, Route Patrol Vehicles and Tow Away Cranes are provided at an average length of 50 Km on NHs entrusted to NHAI. List of all Ambulances, Cranes & Route Patrol Vehicles along with their locations is available on NHAI website. At present total 223 Ambulances, 229 Route Patrol Vehicles and 198 Tow Away Cranes are in position. NHAI also plans to set up 24 hours Call Centre in addition a series of Workshops and Seminars on Road Safety Audit and Work Zone Safety including Workers Safety have been conducted by NHAI during the last two years to train the staff, Concessionaires and Consultants. NHAI has also started safety audit on its PPP funded projects.
Before I conclude, I would like to mention that our precious road infrastructure is suffering massive damages due to overloading of trucks. Overloading also causes severe accidents. A major reason for such a state of affairs is non-enforcement of the provisions of the Motor Vehicles Act - 1988 regarding mandatory off-loading of excess loads. After the judgment of the Hon’ble Supreme Court it has become clear that despite the provision of composition of the offence of overloading the enforcement authorities need to off load the excess weight besides levy of penalty / compounding fee.
The issue of strengthening of the Institutional framework at both the National and State level to deal with the entire gamut of road safety issues has been with us for several years now. The proposed National Traffic Management and Road Safety Board Bill has not been concurred with the Department Related Parliamentary Standing Committee in the framework that was proposed in the 2010 Bill. My Ministry has now engaged itself in creation of an Institutional framework as it is recognized that there are a lot of coordination issues with State/UT Governments and various stakeholders which are needed for any meaningful progress on addressing issues in Road Safety. It is a recognized fact that the current institutional capacities at the National as well as State levels need to be enhanced substantially to address the entire gamut of issues on road safety. This issue has been addressed in the XII Five Year Plan for funding these Institutional mechanisms so that a long term impact could be towards road safety.
Lastly, I would like to mention that in today’s meeting many fruitful as well as far reaching conclusions will be reached which will become the basis for the future work plan as far as Road Safety is concerned. I would also like to mention that the meeting of the National Road Safety Council will be held more frequently and we will together make it a more effective body. This will enable us to get your views on various aspects of Road Safety from time to time and help us in policy formulation.
I seek the full co-operation of all State Governments /Union Territories and other agencies concerned so that all the issues relating to this important sector could be addressed more vigorously in future. It is my fervent hope that the deliberations at this meeting will be useful and productive. I wish you all the best in your noble efforts.”
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