The Government will introduce the Motor Vehicles Amendment Bill in the next session of Parliament, and once enacted it will end the malpractices in regional transport offices (RTOs) across the nation, the Road Transport and Highways Minister, Mr. Nitin Gadkari, has said.
“The Motor Vehicles Amendment Bill, being prepared in sync with practises in six advanced nations – the US, Canada, Singapore, Japan, Germany and the UK – to be introduced will overhaul the sector bringing to an end the corrupt practises in RTOs,” Mr. Gadkari said on the sidelines of a meeting of the Indian Roads Congress.
The Act has become obsolete in the present context and needs overhaul, he said, adding that the new law is designed in a way that will provide permits online besides slapping fines on violators of traffic rules on the basis of recordings in camera.
“The new law will provide a corruption-free transparent system with a proper record of driving licences. Data would be utilised in e-governance. International norms are there for vehicle design, pollution control on the basis of prevalent laws in the six advanced nations. I have firm faith that the new law will end corrupt practises in RTOs through e-governance,” he added.
Earlier, addressing the Indian Road Congress meeting, Mr. Gadkari observed that he had committed to Prime Minister Narendra Modi that transport and shipping sectors would contribute at least two per cent to the GDP of the country in the next two years.
Admitting that the highways sector is passing through a rough patch and 21 out of 51 road widening projects had to be dropped in the absence of any bidder, Mr. Gadkari said developers dropped projects worth about Rs. 50,000 crores in the absence of lack of land acquisition and delays in green nods.
“Not a single kilometre of highway network could be added in July which is not good, but the Ministry has resolved to build 30 km of highways a day in the next two years,” he added.