Union Minister of Road Transport and Highways Nitin Gadkari on March 23 said India's performance on road safety has not been up to the mark.
Speaking at the inaugural MoneyControl Policy Next - The Rs 10 Trillion Infra Push summit in New Delhi, Gadkari said safety standards in road engineering and automobile engineering have improved in the last few years but there is still area for improvement regarding road safety in India.
"Majority get their licences delivered at homes from RTO. Only few actually pass the driving tests and get it," Gadkari said.
He added that education on road safety and enforcement of road safety rules is key to improving safety standards in India.
"Our intention is to change human behaviour that violates road rules. Till human behaviour changes, rules won't be followed. Government alone cannot do this, we need private partnerships," Gadkari said.
He added that efforts by all are necessary to reduce road accidents by 50 percent before the end of 2025 road accidents in India by 50 percent in 2020.
The minister also accepted that the quality of roads in India is sometimes a concern and there is room for improvement. He also expressed the desire to set up an organisation focussed on research and development in the sector.
He added that back in 2020 the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways of India had diluted eligibility norms for companies to participate in road construction projects.
"We diluted the eligibility norms which made many infrastructure companies bid for big projects, reduced the bid price but did not take care of quality. L&T stopped bidding for many projects citing the competition. Now we are trying to rectify this," Gadkari said.
Former secretary in the MoRTH, Vijay Chhibber, also said despite measures taken by the government, road safety in India has not changed significantly since 2014.
He suggested that India should set up a dedicated agency to work along with ministries and state governments to address issues of road safety in the country.
In January, during road safety week, the minister had said a law will soon be brought into the country to determine the working hours of truck drivers.
MoRTH will also soon introduce Bharat New Car Assessment Programme (NCAP) wherein automobiles in India shall be accorded ‘star ratings’ based on their performance in crash tests.
The Bharat NCAP will check the safety of new vehicles and assign star ratings based on the parameters that are in line with global NCAP and European NCAP.
Bharat NCAP will serve as a consumer-centric platform allowing customers to opt for safer cars based on their star-ratings, while promoting healthy competition amongst OEMs in India to manufacture safer vehicles.
