NITI Aayog plans Intelligent Transportation Systems policy for India

The Indian government’s think-tank, National Institution for Transforming India (NITI Aayog), has set up a national level committee with members from various ministries and states  for developing and implementing Intelligent Transportation Systems (ITS) to drive smarter mobility in the country.

"The national level committee will have various stake holders including central, state , foreign ITS companies and private partners active in the sector  along with several working groups which will  develop the national ITS policy and set uniform standards to implement it in various parts of the country including major citiesm" said Anil Srivastava, IAS, Advisor, (Infrastructure) NITI Aayog, while speaking at a roundtable on ITS in India, organised by International Road Federation (IRF) , the Geneva-based road safety body working for better and safer roads worldwide.

"Some of the subjects covered by various working groups in the ITS Committee will include traffic management, parking management, electronic enforcement of traffic rules, fleet management and monitoring, setting up ITS technical standards , generating awareness for acceptance by public and initiating, encouraging pilot projects and developing affordable ITS suited to Indian driving conditions," said Srivastava.

NITI Aayog and IRF recently signed a Statement of Intent to cooperate in the field of ITS in India. "The objective of this national ITS Policy will be to contribute to reducing urban traffic congestion, improving the situation around parking of vehicles in cities, improving road safety, and improving the security of passenger and goods traffic,” said Dr Adnan Rahman , director general, International Road Federation, Geneva. 

"The work of this national platform will provide a coherent and consistent National ITS Policy covering domains such as traffic and parking management, enforcement, and security. It will contribute to the government of India’s SMART City Program, the Make in India initiative, and to a host of other initiatives aimed at the economic and social development of India," said Vijay Chibber, advisor, IRF and former secretary, Ministry of Road Transport and Highways (MoRTH).

At present, ITS has been partially implemented in very few cities in India including Mumbai, Bangalore, Surat and Bhopal