Gujarat Assembly passes a bill to curb road accident up to 50% by 2020
Gandhinagar, February 20: In a bid to curb road accidents in Gujarat, the State Legislative Assembly on Monday unanimously passed a bill to initiate the state Road Safety Authority (GUJROSA) for the implementation of road safety programmes.
The bill passed by Gujarat Assembly will help in curbing up to 50% of road accidents till the year 2020. The bill has provision for a fine of up to Rs1 lakh for refusal or failure to comply with the Authority’s orders.
Notably, the Gujarat Assembly passed the Gujarat Road Safety Authority Bill 2018 after a debate on the first day of the budget session. The Gujarat Road Safety Authority Bill will pave the way for the formation of a Road Safety Authority for implementation of road safety programmes in the state and to act as the lead agency for road safety.
Tabling the bill in the Gujarat Legislative Assembly, State Transport Minister RC Faldu said that the government is targeting 50% reduction in road accidents by the year 2020. “More than 4.80 lakh accidents take place in India every year, which claim 1.50 lakh lives. In Gujarat, the number of accidents declined from 21,859 in 2016, to 19,081 in 2017 due to growing awareness. The bill will bring this further down,” he added.
On the other side, Congress MLA from Jamalpur-Khadia seat Imran Khedawala proposed changes in the penalty amount. While, the leader of the opposition, Paresh Dhanani, said that the bill focused more on collecting penalty, and less on road safety.
Importantly, the Road Safety Authority would ensure implementation of directions on road safety, notify annual targets for the reduction of accidents and fatalities, collect and analyse data on road accidents, prescribe and enforce road safety standards, to coordinate work relating to road safety with concerned departments and NGOs, and oversee implementation of laws, among others.
Interestingly, the Gujarat government had promulgated the Road Safety Authority Ordinance in October 2017 to form the Authority as suggested by the Supreme Court which was finally passed on Monday.