The Opposition in Lok Sabha on Wednesday pressed for increasing the budget for maintenance of roads and stringent laws to deal with overloading of vehicles and reducing incidents of road accidents.
Initiating a debate on demand for grants of Ministry of Road Transport and Highways, Congress member A R Reddy said India has only one per cent of the vehicles while it accounts for 11 per cent of road accidents globally.
He said the government should increase the budget for the maintenance of roads to prevent such accidents.
He also criticised the government for not being able to attract private investments in the highways sector.
Besides, Reddy demanded that the government speed up the implementation of the Bharatmala Pariyojana.
Participating in the discussions, Kalyan Banerjee (AITC) suggested that the government should come out with stringent laws to deal with the overloading of vehicles as they create heavy traffic congestions.
A modern nation is built upon a smart and efficient transportation system, he said adding this will require measures that can address problems ranging from infrastructure challenges to governance inefficiencies.
A holistic traffic management approach is necessary for a sustainable solution and IT-enabled smart traffic management and transportation can be a game-changer for the country, he said.
"Kindly bring stringent laws under the motor vehicles act in respect of over burdening the trucks and vehicles...This is causing traffic congestion... (Bring) stringent, very stringent provisions," Banerjee said.
He also said that officers from motor vehicles departments should be on the field to stop overloading.
DMK Member G S Pon asked the government to speed up the highway projects in Tamil Nadu.
He said that the finance minister made several announcements about highways in the Budget but did not talk about the completed projects.
Jagdambika Pal (BJP) said that the government has taken a series of measures to boost the development of roads in the country.
He said that Budget allocations have jumped significantly during the Modi government as compared to that in the UPA regime.
Today India's road network is the second largest after the US in the world, he said adding there was a significant increase in capital expenditure.
Pal said during the UPA's time, per day road construction was only 11.7 km and now it has increased to over 37 km.
"This budget should be passed with voice vote," he added.
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