Road ministry to unveil draft motor bill on Saturday: Gadkari

New Delhi: The Road Transport and Highways Ministry will unveil on Saturday the draft Motor Vehicles Bill which aims to reduce the number of deaths in road accidents ina year by half, among others.

“Road safety is our priority area, 1.5 lakh deaths have been reported in road accidents, we want to reduce this number to 50 per cent in the next two years,” Road Transport Minister Nitin Gadkari said today.

He said his ministry is currently engaged in identifying the number of accidental spots.

[caption id=“attachment_86366” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  Nitin Gadkari. AFP[/caption]

These provisions will fall under the purview of Motor Vehicles Bill, which will be tabled in the next session of Parliament.

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The new Bill will be a complete overhaul of the existing Motor Vehicles Act, 1988.

“We will unveil the draft of the Motor Vehicles Bill on Saturday on our website, we welcome all your comments,” Gadkari said at the ACMA event here.

The bill is being redrafted in consultation with the World Bank.

The Motor Vehicles Amendment Bill, being prepared, will be in sync with practices in six advanced nations - the US, Canada, Singapore, Japan, Germany and the UK.

It will adopt international best practices in road safety to help reduce the number of road accidents in the country.

On asked about the e-rickshaws, “The draft on the plying of e-rickshaws has been prepared and sent to the Law Ministry which is expected to send their reply today,” Gadkari, who also holds additional charge of Ministry Rural Development, said.

Earlier this week, the Delhi High Court said plying of e-rickshaws in the national capital is illegal as per existing law and the ban on their operation will continue till centralgovernment frames rules to regulate them.

PTI