'Road bill to separate tax issues; focus on safety measures'

To pave the way for enactment of a stricter legislation on road safety, a high-level panel has proposed hiving off 'taxation' issues from the proposed bill and focus on issues such as drunken driving and minors behind the wheels.
The new road safety bill has remained stuck as some states have opposed it saying it encroached on their financial rights.
In order to address this concern as also to bring in a stricter road safety regime, a meeting of state transport secretaries and stakeholders was held here today to provide inputs for a ministerial panel later this month.
"All states are on board as far as issues like preventing minors from driving vehicles, curbing drunken driving and simplification of forms for transfer of vehicles. The bone of contention by some states is taxation. The meeting today decided to concentrate on road safety issues," an official told PTI.

The official said the meeting, chaired by Road Transport and Highways Secretary Sanjay Mitra will forward its recommendations to an inter-ministerial panel which is meeting here on April 29.
A final decision on the new safety bill will be taken in the meeting and based on that consent from states will be sought as the issues falls under concurrent list.

Road Transport and Highways Minister Nitin Gadkari has recently said, "Despite our best efforts the Bill (Road Transport and Safety Bill, 2015) which we made could not be introduced in Parliament. This is a difficult problem for us. The Act falls in the purview of concurrent list and both state governments and the Centre have rights. Different lobbies are there who are opposing the Bill."

The official further said, "The new proposal will concentrate on driving licences and other issues concerning road safety as the government is committed to undertake the drive for 'Accident-free India'".
India accounts for 5 lakh road accidents annually in which 1.5 lakh people die and another 3 lakh are crippled.
There are adequate provisions of heavy penalty in the new proposal to check traffic violations and faulty licences, the official said.
The 2015 Bill sought to come down heavily on traffic offenders and proposed steep penalties of up to Rs 3 lakh along with a minimum 7-year imprisonment for death of a child in certain circumstances, besides huge fines for driving violations.

Meanwhile a statement from the ministry said: "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.