New Motor Vehicles Act to be tabled in winter session: Gadkari

Admitting that India's roads were among the most dangerous anywhere, Road Transport and Highways Minister Nitin Gadkari Monday said the government will introduce a "holistic" act to amend the Motor Vehicles Act in the winter session of parliament.

"The existing Motor Vehicles Act of 1988 has outlived its utility in the fast changing traffic scenario," Gadkari said addressing a workshop here on road safety.

Around 138,000 people are killed in road accidents every year, the total social cost of which is estimated to be around Rs.100,000 crore, the minister said.

Calling for total transparency and zero tolerance for corruption, Gadkari said there is need to fix accountability for such large number of accidents in the country.

He said the biggest problem faced in urban areas in addition to road safety is unprecedented growth of vehicles, leading to traffic congestion and increasing road traffic violations.

"The Motor Vehicles Amendment Bill, being prepared in sync with practises in six advanced nations - the US, Canada, Singapore, Japan, Germany and Britain - will be introduced in the next session of parliament. This will overhaul the sector bringing to an end the corrupt practises in RTOs," Gadkari told a meeting of the Indian Roads Congress last month.

--Indo-Asian News service

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