Move for an action plan on road safety and ease of transport As part of its ongoing efforts to improve road safety in the country and facilitate ease of transport, the Ministry of Road Transport & Highways has convened a meeting of Principal Transport Secretaries of states and Transport Commissioners to deliberate on various issues in this regard, that need to be addressed urgently. The deliberations will focus on what needs to be done to make road travel safer, bring down number of accidents, facilitate ease of transport and enhance customer experience in transactions with transport and police departments. Todays meeting is also being attended by stakeholders like representatives of motor transport companies, state road transport undertakings and bus operators among others, so that all areas of concern can be discussed in detail. Speaking on the occasion Shri Sanjay Mitra, Secretary Road Transport & Highways reiterated his Ministrys commitment to facilitate building of a cogent mechanism for safe and seamless road travel in the country. Todays meeting is in preparation for a meeting of the Group of Ministers for Transport of states, scheduled to be held in New Delhi on 29th April 2016. The GoM was constituted by the Central Government to suggest a road map for reforming the road sector. As a signatory to Brasilia Declaration, India is committed to reducing the number of road accidents and fatalities by 50 % by 2020. We need urgent reforms to weed out archaic rules and practices so that the road sector can support the high growth rates of the Indian economy. In order to ensure road safety and improve customer satisfaction there is an urgent need to make administrative changes, amend the Motor Vehicles Act and make optimal use of technology to cut down delays. The GoM headed by Shri Yunus Khan, Minister for Transport, Rajasthan and comprising state Transport Ministers, was constituted to suggest a road map for achieving the above objectives. The GoM will have its first meeting in New Delhi on 29th April 2016. The objective of todays meeting is to crystallize the agenda points for the meeting of the Group of Ministers. These are likely to include issues like safety of non motorized vehicles, pedestrians, automobile safety features, quality control over automobiles, issue of driving licences, fitness of vehicles, public education, strengthening of traffic enforcement, enhancing customer experience in transaction with transport and police department and issues pertaining to improving ease of transport.
