Form policy to reduce road mishaps: Minister to council

Nikhil Bhardwaj

Tribune News Service

Ludhiana, September 21

A member of the National Road Safety Council (NRSC), Ministry of Highways and Road Transport, Kamaljit Soi, today met Union Minister Nitin Gadkari and discussed the ongoing implementation of road safety policies in the country.

Soi while talking to The Tribune over phone said Gadkari, being the Minister of Highways and Road Transport, asked the council to form a policy on reduction of road accidents in the country.

“The minister also assigned me the work of implementation of automotive industry standards (AIS) 140 and monitoring of drivers in public service vehicles in the country. A task force has also been formed to review the implementation of road safety policies in all states of the country,” Soi said.

Each life lost causes immense loss to the nation which creates social and economic imbalance in the country, hence, they would do with all might to reduce number of deaths and devastation, he said.

Dr Soi said the technical automotive standards for India ‘AIS 140’ was the standard for vehicle location tracking devices and monitoring in vehicles to reduce road accidents and deaths through a centralised control and command centre located in the Transport Department in the state capital and the funding for which is being given by the Central Government under the Nirbhaya Fund.

“I will monitor all states how they are implementing the policies and will guide them to implement correctly so that safety of women, children and elderly is assured in the public transport through the GPS and panic buttons with 24x7 monitoring through control and command centre, “asserted Dr Soi.

“Gadkari instructed the members to go all out to access all government projects and if any project is not undertaken as per safety standards, raise an alarm so that preventive and corrective action can be taken to save precious human lives,” he claimed.

Dr Soi also presented a book, titled ‘Road Safety A Way Forward’, to the minister. The book is a compilation of all good governance practices to reduce deaths and devastation in the country.