Tharoor, 16 other MPs for stronger road safety Bill

A group of 17 members of Parliament, including Indian National Congress's Shashi Tharoor, Biju Janata Dal's Rabindra Kumar Jena and Indian National Lok Dal's Dushyant Singh Chautala, has written to Prime Minister (PM) Narendra Modi for stronger road safety law and suggested bifurcating the proposed Bill into two Bills.

In a letter to PM, the group of MPs said minister of road transport and highways Nitin Gadkari has said Road Safety Bill would be introduced in the Parliament.

"Given the bipartisan support for road safety across political formations, the government should consider introducing a strong legislation on road safety immediately," the letter said.

It added, road accidents in India are responsible for about 400 deaths every year and cause an economic loss of Rs 3.8 lakh crore. The group also urged PM to allow bifurcation of the draft road safety Bill into two Bills.

One on the agreeable road safety and traffic management and the other on the transportation reforms, taxation and other issues.

The group also suggested that the Bill could be put through a consultative process to arrive at a system that is modern, efficient and acceptable to all states and union territories.

A recent report by the Press Trust of India, quoting union minister Gadkari , said that the passage of road safety bill has been because of some vested interests. The minister expressed his regret in not being able to introduce the bill.