‘Introduce Motor Vehicles Amendment Bill’ Says Nitin Gadkari

GUWAHATI: A conglomerate of road safety activists has called upon Road Transport and Highways Minister Nitin Gadkari to take urgent steps to ensure the listing and passage of the Motor Vehicles Amendment Bill, 2017 in the ongoing winter session of the Parliament. While the Rajya Sabha, where the Bill is pending, has been largely non-functional due to disruptions by some opposition MPs, the road safety activists have bemoaned the apathy of the Government in trying to reach an agreement to make sure that the Bill is tabled.

“What is most troubling is that more than half-way through the session the Bill has not even been listed even once”, said Ashim Sanyal of Consumer VOICE. The road safety network, a national coalition of road safety NGOs, has been in constant touch with officials of the Ministry as well as opposition MPs. “The opposition is concerned over some of the clauses in the Bill but are in full support of the provisions that will strengthen road safety,” said Ranjit Gadgil of Parisar, “sadly there seems to be no effort on the part of the Ministry to iron out the differences and ensure passage of the Bill”. Recently the WHO released “The Global Status Report on Road safety 2018”, which pegs annual road crash fatalities in India at almost 3 lakhs, the highest in the world.

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