Meeting on road safety to begin tomorrow

A two-day meeting of the Group of Ministers (GoM) under the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways is all set to begin here from tomorrow.

Led by Transport Minister of Rajasthan, Yunus Khan, transport ministers of 24 states are members of the GoM, an official release said here today.

Senior officials comprising Additional Chief Secretaries, Principal Secretaries, Commissioners and Secretaries of Transport Department from various states will discuss issues related to road safety measures tomorrow, it said.

The Union Ministry of Road Transport and Highways has constituted the GoM to examine the best practices in road safety and road transport sector and to suggest actionable point of implementation with the objective to reduce fatalities and road accidents.

Assam Chief Minister Sarbananda Sonowal will attend the meeting as chief guest on the second day while the state Transport Minister Chandra Mohan Patowary will also be present in the meeting.

The meeting will focus on framing a National Road Safety Code with the objective to reduce fatalities and road accidents by 50 per cent by 2020, improving road accident victims' assistance infrastructure, strategies for road safety advocacy programmes, harmonization of motor vehicles taxes across different states, strategies for improving the inter-state passenger and goods transport and harmonization of permit conditions and permit fees across the states, among others, the release said.