'States should not oppose road safety Bill on flimsy grounds'

NEW DELHI: In light of the opposition to the recently introduced draft Road Transport and Safety Bill, 2014, from states like Tamil Nadu, leading public consultants today called upon the states to not oppose the law on flimsy grounds.

"While the biggest concern for Tamil Nadu seems to be the revenue model envisaged by the draft Bill, they have not really come up with valid reasoning behind their opposition," Piyush Tewari of New Delhi-based NGO SaveLIFE Foundation said during a discussion on the Bill hosted by the Indian Women's Press Corps.

The draft Bill would usher in a more "efficient tax collection model" which will benefit the states instead of infringing upon their domain, he said.

"I am not sure as to which provision of the draft Bill is infringing on the power of the states. It rather envisages a better revenue model," he added.

The draft Bill proposes, among others, the creation of a Vehicle Regulation and Road Safety Authority of India and is aimed at bringing down fatalities in road accidents by 2 lakh in the first five years.

According to official data, Indian roads are among the deadliest in the world where one person dies every four minutes in an accident, leading to around 12 lakh deaths in the last decade alone.