'Revised National Road Safety Policy soon'

New Delhi, Sep 10: A National Road Safety Policy will be put in place within two months for checking accidents and facilitating smooth flow of traffic on highways, Road Transport and Highways Minister T R Baalu said today.

The rules will be framed on the basis of the recommendations of the inter-state committee, headed by Tamil Nadu Transport Minister K N Nehru, and suggestions received from the states, Mr Baalu told reporters after a meeting of the National Road Safety Council.

The inter-state committee submitted its recommendations on overloading, speed governors, speed limits and other road safety measures to Mr Baalu today. The speed limit, which is now range between 30 km and 65 km would be reviewed and possibly go up in view of better roads and vehicles, Mr Nehru said.

The inter-state committee has suggested that state governments will be allowed to revise the speed limit, depending on the condition of roads. Speed governors should be made compulsory for all commercial vehicles to begin with, according to the committee. On overloading, it has suggested a review of the present on the spot fine. All check posts should have weighing facility to enforce the regulations for proper loading of vehicles as overloading damages the roads.

Mr Nehru said the National Road Safety Council is in favour of integrated single-point checking by multiple departments- police, sales tax, transport, excise and customs to enable free and convenient movement of vehicles.There is a move to allocate for road safety measures 50 per cent of all fines realised from offenders.

He said the Centre has agreed to set up a Training Academy for Drivers at Chrompet, Chennai, at a cost of Rs 4.5 crore. Also, training tracks would be made available at Chennai, Tiruchirapalli, Madurai and Coimbatore.

After a gap of 20 years, the Tamil Nadu government has signed agreements with Karnataka and Pondicherry for avoiding payment of double taxation by inter-state buses. Under the agreement Tamil Nadu buses would be allowed to operate 315 buses to Karnataka on routes measuring 61,000 km. Karnataka would operate 300 buses in Tamil Nadu, covering 59,000 km of routes. The agreement with Karnataka has resulted in a saving of Rs 9crore to Tamil Nadu. Similar agreements with Kerala and Maharashtra are on the anvil, Mr Nehru said.

UNI