Transport council to discuss reforms on September 19

NEW DELHI:The government will push for several major reforms in transportation sector such as setting up of bus ports, seamless transport across state borders under the GST regime, harmonisation of motor vehicle taxes and digital payments in state road transport undertakings, bus national permit scheme and online payments for all taxes, permits and penalties.

These would be discussed at the upcoming meeting of the Transport Development Council, the highest body to advise the government of India on all matters relating to roads and transport. The union minister of road transport and highways Nitin Gadkari is the chairman of the council and all state transport ministers are the members. The council will meet on September 19 in Vadodara, Gujarat.

“The agenda of the meeting involves the status of Vahan and Sarathi sites, which have unified database of all registered vehicles and driving licence in the country, under Transport National Register.

The council will also work on the ways to ensure seamless transport across state borders, identification of black spots, reducing road accidents. digitalisation of payments including toll booths, inter-state transfer of private vehicles and citizen facilitation,” roads ministry said in a statement.

In the meeting the states will furnish the action taken by them to modernise regional transportation offices, digitising the payment mechanism and toll fee and removing border check posts under GST. Director, Transport for London will participate in this discussion via video conferencing, along with other experts in the sector to share the best practices in the transport sector.