NEW DELHI, AUG 5 (PTI): Union Minister Nitin Gadkari on Wednesday emphasised the importance of proper training for drivers in lane discipline and traffic regulations, noting that road accidents result in 1.8 lakh deaths each year.
Responding to supplementaries during the Question Hour in the Rajya Sabha, he said it is very painful that “every year we have 1,80,000 deaths”.
Gadkari said there are a lot of reasons behind such deaths, but “the most important thing is the behaviour of the human being”.
“In our country, we need good training for drivers,” he said.
The Union Minister for Road Transport and Highways said that scientific training of drivers on lane discipline and traffic rules is very important.
The minister was responding to a question by nominated Rajya Sabha member Sudha Murty.
Highlighting that the country has “beautiful roads, but there are a lot more accidents”, she asked whether the government has any procedure or any new scheme so that there should be transparency in the actual method of giving licenses to drivers.
Later, speaking to PTI, Murty said the national highways are fantastic, but many a time, accidents happen due to rash and irresponsible drivers.
“In most such cases, drivers are not well trained, and they might have attained their licenses through backhand channels. There is no proof of how they drive anywhere or any video which stands as a testament to how they passed the driving tests. There are several instances where underage drivers steer vehicles without understanding the consequences,” she said.
Murty asked the government to make the process of granting driving licenses more stringent and transparent by including video recordings during tests “so that we can ensure only those qualified drive”, and road accidents are reduced.
BJP’s Rajya Sabha member from Haryana, Rekha Sharma, sought to know steps being taken to minimise the delay in completion of national highways projects to ensure their timely completion.
“We have a problem that land acquisition is a state subject. And we have to acquire the land and get environment and forest clearance for the project,” Gadkari said.
“We cannot construct a highway in the sky! We need land, and that is exactly a big problem,” the road transport minister said.
DMK’s P Wilson raised the issue of toll collections, saying even after the recovery of investment, toll fees are charged regularly without any reduction.
He asked whether there will be the constitution of any independent authority to fix toll fees.
Gadkari said that the government has already taken a very popular decision of providing an annual road pass of Rs 3,000, and a lot of people are appreciating that.
“We have a lot of limitations in the government budget. And that’s the reason we have to take the toll for that,” he said.
Citing an example of the Delhi-Dehradun expressway, Gadkari said previously, the travelling time was nine hours, but now it is 2 hours and 15 minutes.
“So, a seven-hour saving is there. And that is the saving of fuel, saving of the time. And for that reason we are charging a toll,” Gadkari said.
He said all services cannot be provided free of charge.
“If you want good services, we have to pay for it. We cannot offer all the services free of charge,” Gadkari said.
He said that by getting that money, the government is making roads in the northeast costing Rs five lakh crore.
“We are investing that money in areas where people are socially, economically, and educationally backward; where we are not getting the toll. In Meghalaya, Tripura, Assam, Nagaland, everywhere, we are making a lot of highways. In Kashmir, we are making tunnels worth Rs 2 lakh crore,” Gadkari said.
Rajya Sabha Chairman C P Radhakrishna also made a request to the Union Transport Minister.
“Honourable minister, there is one small request from my side. I was an ex-MP. In the toll gates, ex-MPs also should be given a free pass…Because in railways, they are doing it very generously,” he said.
Gadkari assured the Chairman that his ministry will think on it and he will report it to the Chair.
