We need modern Motor Vehicles Laws
Why is there opposition to
amendments to the Motor Vehicles Act? India’s law governing motor vehicles and
transport is archaic, and hence cannot manage fast motorisation.
There is need to improve road safety,
ensure orderly use of vehicles and expand public transport. The Motor Vehicles (Amendment) Bill, passed
by the Lok Sabha last year, seeks to do this, but it is being opposed.
The passenger transport sector
operating within cities and providing inter-city services has grown amorphously,
with vested interests exploiting the lack of transparency and regulatory
bottlenecks. With a transparent system, professional new entrants can enter the
sector.
State-run services have not kept
pace with the times. Enabling well-run bus services to operate
across States with suitable permit charges is an imperative to meet the needs
of a growing economy.
Other aspects of the proposed
amendments deal with road safety.
The effort to curb institutionalised
corruption at Regional Transport Offices by making it possible for dealers to
directly register new vehicles, and enabling online applications for driving
licences is welcome. Sharply enhancing fines for rule violations, certainty of
enforcement, zero tolerance and escalating penalties will really work. Also there should be harnessing of
technology, including CCTV monitoring, to improve road safety. There should be professional
accident investigation agency to determine best practices.
Safe, efficient and affordable
commutation is the necessity of the day. We must look into using the Drone
technology for various aspects of traffic management and road safety. CCTV is
not as dynamic as drone technology. Why can't India make a big breakthrough? Our
cars and bike can be made to record their speed and state can make use of the
data. Rather such data can be uploaded into cloud and state can gather so much
intelligence. All in all we must have safe roads.
The transport aggregators such as
Ola are taking the passengers for a ride in the name of access fee which is
charged liberally and at their advantage. There is a need to limit the access
fee both at minimum and maximum to convenience the commuters. This can bring
down the burden on the latter. For example, Ola used to charge a particular sum
for access fee till now recently, has almost doubled it.
Motor vehicles Department and
related Transports Authorities of every state could be considered some of the
most corrupt and incorrigible Government controlled centers in the country. The
unaccounted moneys/wealth creation through corruption of different levels of
officers/ employees in these departments could run into thousands of crores of
rupees worth. Any rules/regulations, without coming heavily on this corruption
cannot hold water. Centralizing all these would only add salt to injury in an
already dirty arena of corruption
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