Govt to set up seperate department for transport: Gadkari

He said the department will not only oversee the auto sector requirements like emission norms and safety issues but would also look at exports and other aspects

Union Minister of Road, Transport and Highways said that the government will set up a separate Transport Department comprising of experts from automobile sector, alternative fuel, emission etc.

"We had requested the Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the Cabinet Secretariat for a separate transport department. The Cabinet Secretary has approved the proposal. After obtaining approval from Expenditure Finance Committee, we will go to the Cabinet," he added.

Gadkari said the automobile sector is huge and a lot of work is there in it. He added that the current department is having only 10-12 people to address the larger issues pertaining to transport sector. Currently, the transport Department is not independent, as Road and Transport comes under one secretary now.

He further added that the idea behind setting up separate mechanism is to streamline the issues related to motor vehicles as their gamut is huge and involves issues ranging from fuel technology to motor body specifications and fuel emissions.

He said the department will not only oversee the automobile sector requirements like emission norms and safety issues but would also look at exports and other aspects.

 The Minister said streamlining these issues was essential in the wake of the mammoth task of regularising vehicles and ensuring compliance of emission norms.