Lieutenant Governor Kiran Bedi, who is camping in New Delhi, on Monday met Union Minister for Transport and Shipping Nitin Gadkari and sought assistance to improve road safety and transport facilities in the city.
A release said Mr. Gadkari agreed to provide expeditious financial and professional support for setting up an automated vehicle testing facility and driver testing track, driving training and research institute and establishment of an inspection and certification centre for vehicles.
The Union Minister assured to provide support for procuring modern enforcement equipment such as speed radar guns, interceptors to prevent injuries and fatal accidents.
Greening highways
Ms. Bedi said that Mr. Gadkari had extended his support for greening of highways to a length of 65.5 kms in Puducherry.
She sought the Centre’s intervention in improving Puducherry port through development of marine terminal facilities, improved slipway and frequent dredging by the Dredging Corporation of India to enable fishermen steer their boats without any hassles.
She requested the Centre to make Puducherry port more profitable by filling up vacant posts with professionals drawn from marine and naval services.
Sources said Mr. Gadkari had agreed to consider the demand to include Puducherry in Sagarmala, the flagship programme of the Shipping Ministry and to launch ferry services between Chennai-Puducherry-Karaikal to promote port based cruise tourism.
During her meeting with the Union Minister for Culture and Tourism (Independent) Mahesh Sharma, Ms. Bedi sought inclusion of Puducherry under the Swadesh Dharshan Scheme.
Science tourism
She urged the Centre to provide expeditious support for promotion of Science Tourism by facilitating the setup of a space exposition gallery, innovation hub and digital planetarium in Karaikal.
Sources said Mr. Sharma evinced keen interest and support to the demand for setting up a Convention Centre for Arts and Culture on the lines of the one at Rashtrapati Bhavan.
Calling on Union Minister for Agriculture and Farmers Welfare Radha Mohan Singh, the Lt. Governor sought financial assistance for construction of phase II of the Karaikal fishing harbour.
The second phase on completion would ensure additional berthing facilities for mechanised boats and expedite the Hydrographic survey being conducted by IIT Chennai.
The Heads of Departments would visit Delhi shortly and work with officials in the concerned Ministries. They would submit their proposals and reduce delays.
