Transport ministry hopes Rajya Sabha will clear MV Bill in next session

HYDERABAD: The Ministry of Road Transport and Highways is hoping that the Motor Vehicles (Amendment) Bill, 2016 will be cleared by the Rajya Sabha during the next session of Parliament, a top official said here today.

Yudhvir Singh Malik, Secretary (Road Transport and Highways) said the Bill has already been cleared by the Lok Sabha in April and the Upper House referred it to a Select Committee.

"In terms of vehicle rules and regulations, the ministry has already pushed significant amendments in the Motor Vehicles Act, which has already been passed by the Lok Sabha. It could not go through in Rajya Sabha. It has been referred to a select committee and I have already had three hearings before the select committee of the Rajya Sabha," he said.

"We hope that the Motor Vehicles (Amendment) Bill, which would have number of enabling provisions, is passed in the next session, because the select committee is working (on that Bill) at very fast pace and it has promised that it will submit its report on the first day of the next session- the coming session," Malik said.

He was speaking at a session organised on the sidelines of TrafficTech Expo.

He further said the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways (MORTH) had already rectified 118 black spots out of a total over 500 identified in the country.

Black spot is place where there were three accidents leading to human deaths during a period of last three years.

"118 of those (500 black spots) have already been completed. We have carried out a survey and the accidents have sharply fallen in those black spot areas," he explained.

He also said the ministry has appointed an agency to prepare a detailed project report for setting up Integrated Transport System at Varansi and Nagpur.

"When we talk about integrated transport system, we are going to set up one in Varanasi and another one in Nagpur. In Varanasi, we are planning to set it up on 30 acres of land, which will have rail, bus and inland waterway connectivity. It would be replicated at Nagpur with rail and bus station," he said.

He said there will be conference of transport minister and secretaries of all states at Vadodara in Gujarat on September 19.

Anil Srivastava, advisor (infrastructure connectivity), NITI Aayog said electric vehicles will outnumber conventional ones by 2040 and the Centre has to play a proactive role towards that.