Road contractors may have to pay out up to ₹1 lakh per accidental death caused due to faulty road design and poor maintenance of the roads, according to the proposed Motor Vehicles (Amendment) Bill approved by the Union Cabinet on Friday.
“We have proposed a penalty of up to ₹1 lakh per accident caused due to faulty road design to be paid by contractors,” Road Transport and Highways Minister Nitin Gadkari said at a press conference. Every year, more than 10,000 people die in road accidents due to potholes, a senior Ministry official said. In 2015, 1.46 lakh people were killed in road accidents in India which translates into 400 road deaths per day — an increase by 4.6% from 2014, according to official estimates.
The Motor Vehicles (Amendment) Bill, 2016 was introduced in the Lok Sabha in August last year. The Bill was referred to the Departmental Standing Committee on Transport, Tourism and Culture and the Ministry made some changes based on the Parliamentary panel recommendations which have now been approved by the Union Cabinet.
Insurance claims
Mr. Gadkari said the Bill will be introduced in the Lok Sabha again “in the next few days”. The Bill also proposes settlement of insurance claims to family of a road accident victim within four months of the accident. It now takes at least four to five years for the claim settlement, an official statement said.
However, the insurance claim amount has been reduced to ₹5 lakh from ₹10 lakh from the earlier proposal.
The new proposed Bill also “proposes Aadhaar based verification for grant of online services, including learner’s licence”.
