Union Road Transport and Highways Minister, Nitin Gadkari has said that the Government is committed to enacting the new road safety bill.
At a loss over delays in proposed motor legislation, a parliamentary panel today recommended bringing the Road Transport and Safety Bill before Parliament at the earliest.
"The Committee is at a loss to understand why the Road Transport and Safety Bill is not brought before the Parliament," Parliamentary Standing Committee on Transport, Tourism and Culture, headed by Kanwar Deep Singh today said in its report.
It suggested earliest recommendation of the Bill which proposes widespread reforms in the sector. "The Committee recommends that the proposed legislation may be brought before the Parliament at the earliest," it said.
Road Transport and Highways Minister Nitin Gadkari had earlier said that vested interests opposed to transparency and computerisation in the transport sector were against the new road safety bill but government is committed to enacting the law.
"Despite our best efforts, the Bill (Road Transport and Safety Bill, 2015) which we made could not be introduced in Parliament. This is a difficult problem for us. The Act falls in the purview of concurrent list and both state governments and the Centre have rights. Different lobbies are there who are opposing the Bill," he has said.
Mr Gadkari had said, "The Bill will take care of driving licences and there are other things... vested interest are trying to obstruct this Act. We will implement it effectively."
Concerned over India accounting for one of the highest global numbers annually of 1.5 lakh road fatalities, out of 5 lakh accidents, the proposed law aims to reduce the road accidents by 50 per cent.
There are adequate provisions for this in the new Bill to penalise heavily those involved in traffic violation but would check faulty driving licences. Some of the states were opposing the Bill saying that the provisions in it are against the administrative and financial rights of the state.
The Bill incorporates the global best practices and provides for the creation of a National Road Safety and Traffic Management Authority to look after all issues related to vehicle regulation and road safety.
It also seeks to come down heavily on traffic offenders and proposes steep penalties of up to Rs three lakh along with a minimum seven-year imprisonment for death of a child in certain circumstances, besides huge fines for driving violations.