5 solutions from MoRTH for safer Indian roads

The Ministry of Road Transport and Highways (MoRTH) has announced five initiatives in its endeavour for a better and a safer road infrastructure in India.

Union Minister for Road Transport & Highways, Shipping, Water Resources, River Development and Ganga Rejuvenation Nitin Gadkari made a slew of announcements in press conferences in the past few days. Of these, the mobile app and the launch of the toll-free number 1033 were the prominent revelations.

Apart from a circular released by NHAI chairman, Deepak Kumar, directing regional officers/ project directors for strict monitoring of highways in the country, MoRTH has listed 5 solutions.

District Driving Training Centres
- To inculcate a habit of road safety with stress on behaviours and attitudes.
- To come up in each district of State or UT.Financial assistance of 1 crore will be provided by the Ministry.
- Interested agencies are invited to invest the equal amount of the grant.
- Facilitating agencies need to provide infrastructural facilities like land, classrooms, simulator among others.
- Special focus will be given on HMV and LMV and for handling dangerous/ hazardous goods.

Sukhad Yatra Mobile Application 
- For entering road-quality related information.
- To report an accident on a highway.
- To obtain Real-time data related to-
- Waiting time at Plazas
- Points of Interest like Highway Nest/Nest Mini, Food Courts, Fuel Stations and more.
- It can also be used to purchase FASTag Tag.

Toll-Free Number 1033 – For Emergency conditions on the Highway
- It is integrated with various ambulance and tow-away services along the road.
- It ensures rapid response time during an emergency.
- It has Multi-lingual support.
- It has location tracking feature for accurate and responsive complaint resolution.

Awards for Advocates of Road Safety
- NGOs/Co-operative Societies/Registered Trusts and similar entities are eligible for it.
- Cash prize range from 5 lakhs, 2 lakhs and 1 lakhs in each State or UT.

Multi-Modal Transport System for ‘million-plus’ cities
- Launch of public and shared transportation based on the electric powertrain.
- Allotment of Rs 105 crore per city with million plus population and special category states.
- Considers demand for incentives in implementing a combination of electric buses, electric four-wheeler passenger cars and electric three-wheelers.
- Ministry received 47 proposals from 44 cities across 21 states having a requirement of 3,144 E-buses, 2,430 E-Four wheeler Taxis and 21,545 E-Three wheeler Autos till November 30, 2017. No more proposals are being taken.
- 11 cities have been selected for funding include Delhi, Ahmedabad, Bengaluru, Jaipur, Mumbai, Lucknow, Hyderabad, Indore, Kolkata, Jammu and Guwahati.
- Up to Rs15 crore will be allotted for the charging infrastructure in each city.

Replying to a query in Rajya Sabha, Mansukh Mandaviya, Minister of State for Road Transport and Highways, Shipping and Chemicals & Fertilizers, said pilot projects have been initiated in Uttar Pradesh and Rajasthan to implement Traffic Incident Emergency Management System (TIMS). Under this scheme, Incident Management Contractors at State/Regional office levels have been incorporated for providing ambulances, tow-away cranes and for highway surveillance vehicles. This is expected to further boost the already existent Incident Management Services, already provided by BOT and OMT highway concessionaires.