Panel for hefty hike in fine for road safety violations

How do you reduce the number of fatalities on road by half in the next five years? A committee of Group of Ministers (GoM) constituted ‘to examine best practices in road safety and suggest actionable points for implementation’ on Friday recommended to the Centre to increase the minimum penalty from the Rs 100 to  Rs 1,000.

 The enhanced penalties were recommended to improve traffic rules compliance, during the second meeting of the committee of transport ministers of various states which was held here on Friday. The meeting was attended by seven ministers, principal secretaries and commissioners of different states.

Yoonus Khan, minister for public works department and transport, Rajasthan, who heads the GoM told reporters that enhanced penalties would act as a deterrent. “Only a certain category of officers would be empowered to impose penalties as there is a strong likelihood of increased corruption amongst enforcement agencies”, he said.

Khan stated that committee also felt the need to simplify the process of public service delivery in respect of driving licenses, transfer of vehicle ownership, NOC for driving licenses among others. “Each state follows its own method. Hence, a sub-committee would be formed to bring about uniformity in the system”, he said.

The committee, he said, would recommend the Centre to set aside 10% of the Central Road Fund (CRF) to improve road safety in all the states, which at present, is being used for construction of roads. It was also proposed to create a traffic fund in order to build traffic infrastructure, he noted.

The committee held its first meeting in New Delhi in March. A report will be submitted to the Centre after holding another round of meeting in Himachal Pradesh on June 26.

Later, a set of recommendation to amend the Section 177 in the Motor Vehicles Act, 1988 will be discussed during the monsoon session of the Parliament.
DH News Service