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Sunday, Jul 08, 2007
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Ministers’ meet moots national transport policy

Special Correspondent

Conference says policy should give emphasis on development of public transport infrastructure

No consensus on unifying taxes prevailing in States
Meet decides to seek amendment to Motor Vehicle Rules

Minister for Transport Mathew T. Thomas

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The conference of Transport Ministers of South Indian States, Maharashtra and Goa has called upon the Centre to come out with a national transport policy which places emphasis on development of public transport infrastructure. The two-day conference has also decided to rename the Standing Committee of Transport Ministers, Transport Secretaries and Transport Commissioners as South India Transport Council (SITCO). This is for the first time that such a grouping is coming into being in any part of the country, Kerala Transport Minister Mathew T. Thomas told reporters on the conclusion of the conference here on Saturday.

Agreement

Mr. Thomas said there was agreement at the meeting on a host of issues, including the need for a National Transport Policy that would help reduce the density of private vehicles on Indian roads and road accidents and encourage adoption of environment-friendly and energy-efficient technology.

The views of SITCO on the issue would be presented before the Central Government at the meeting of State Transport Ministers in New Delhi on July 23 to discuss issues relating to road safety, he said.

The Transport Minister said the meeting had decided to seek amendments to the Motor Vehicle Rules to provide for deterrent punishment for various traffic offences.

Thus, the penalty for drunk driving should be doubled from the present Rs.1,000 and licences of persons found guilty of drunk driving suspended for at least three months.

The meeting decided to seek an amendment to the Motor Vehicles Rules to streamline the functioning of driving schools, to make driving tests more efficient by going in for greater automation.

The Ministers agreed to come up with new agreements before September 30 to smoothen inter-State road traffic, to permit tourist car operators to pay taxes in their home States and ply their vehicles across different South Indian States and allow buses of educational institutions free movement across States.

Consensus on alteration

There was also consensus on permitting alteration of vehicles for use by differently-abled persons.

The State Ministers decided to expedite computerisation of their respective Motor Vehicles Departments so as to facilitate inter-State connectivity at a later stage and called upon the Centre to ask all States to make speed governors mandatory.

It was also decided to constitute a sub-committee of Transport Commissions to explore ways to smoothen inter-State movement of vehicles by de-clogging check-posts.

There was, however, no unanimity at the meeting on unifying the taxes prevailing in different States and the Central proposals for outsourcing issuing of driving licences and fitness certificates.

The amendments seeking to provide for this, both in the pipeline and already introduced in Parliament, were opposed by four States, but were supported by Maharashtra and Puducherry. There was also no agreement on the Central proposal that vehicle dealers should be permitted to issue temporary registration to vehicles.

The Minister for Transport, Andhra Pradesh, Kanna Lakshmi Narayana, the Minister for Transport, Karnataka, Chaluvaraya Swamy, the Minister for Transport Dharma Rao Baba Attram, the Minister for Transport, Puducherry, M. O. H. Shajahan, and the Minister for Transport, Tamil Nadu, K. N. Nehru attended.

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