Union Minister of Road Transport & Highways, Shri Nitin Gadkari has said that the Ministry of Road Transport & Highways has taken a number of initiatives for the benefit of common road users while addressing the Members of Parliament of the Consultative Committee attached to his ministry here today. Enumerating the new initiatives in this regard, Shri Gadkari said that a web portal http://www.nhtis.org has been launched to make available for road users, information about toll plazas on National Highway including users fee rates. He said that public can access the information through mobile phone and SMS using this web portal. He informed that the electronic toll collection system, already launched on Delhi-Mumbai route, will be operationalised at all 300 toll plazas this year. Among other schemes undertaken by the Ministry, he discussed in detail Weigh-in Motion Bridge (WIM), Automatic Vehicle Counter & Classifier (AVCC) System, CCTV Surveillance System at NH Toll Plazas, Automatic Traffic Counter and Classifier [ATCC] systems and e-Tendering.
Shri Gadkari said that to reduce human intervention and make the process of testing the drivers tough as well as transparent, CIRT, Pune has developed a camera based automatic driving test system, known as Innovative Driving Test System (IDTS). It provides an unbiased and transparent driving test mechanism with a complete back up of data and videos for generation of reports and redressal of grievances, if any. This system has been developed in-house and is being used by CIRT, Pune for the Motor Vehicle Department, Government of Maharashtra for grant of licenses to driving license aspirants through the IDTR. RTO Officers from the Pune and Pimpri Chinchwad regions are testing approximately 150 candidates per day to assess the driving skills of the license applicants and issue license in a transparent manner. The system has generated a positive response from the licensees as well as licensors i.e. RTO.
Similar system is being set up at Chandigarh also by CIRT, Pune. Considering the benefits of the system, several states have shown interest in implementing such system which will be useful in eradicating malpractices and providing effective and transparent services to the license seekers. The system has been set up at a very low cost of Rs. 20 lakh per track (which depends on track dimensions).
The Minister informed the Members that the Ministry of Road Transport & Highways has also launched a Web Portal, INAM-PRO –Platform, for infrastructure and materials providers. “INAM-PRO” would act as a common platform for infrastructure materials providers’ viz. cement companies, infrastructure providers, Ministry of Road Transport and Highways and other stakeholders. 36 cement companies with more than 100 plants have given commitment for 95 Lakh MTs of cement for this year. On the other hand, more than 50 buyers have registered and out of them, 13 contractors engaged in public infrastructure projects have been authorized to do transactions so far. In future, INAM-PRO would have the potential to become a comprehensive window for the infrastructure materials and technology providers.
Shri Gadkari added that Government has developed applications: http://vahan.nic.in – for vehicle registration and http://sarthi.nic.in – for driving license. As of now 100% success has been achieved by NIC in terms of deployment of Core Scheme/Product for Vehicle Registration (VAHAN) and for Driving Licenses (SARATHI) across the country. Now under a new initiative, the RTO – centric Vahan andSarathi applications are being revamped to centralized, Web-enabled architecture with a view to provide ease of service, security and maintainability.
Elaborating on the use of satellite to monitor road conditions, traffic, encroachments etc. the Minister said that a concept paper was submitted by NIC in January, 2014 to this Ministry on Roads & Highways Information System (RAHI) which intended to provide an important citizen – centric service in real time on the condition of roads/highways using ICT infrastructure in an integrated manner. To make payment process more transparent, payment monitoring system has been developed and being implemented, he added. Besides making system open and transparent, the monitoring system will facilitate easy communication between various offices and allow an user to track the status of a bill. Other major initiatives launched by the Ministry include Road Asset Management System, Vehicle Tracking System and Real Time Toll Data Management.
The meeting was attended by Shri Bheemrao Baswanthrao Patil, Shri Birendra Kumar Choudhary, Shri Ganesh Singh, Shri Jagdambaika Pal, AVSM Major General(Retd.) Bhuwan Chandra Khanduri, Shri Mekapati Rajamohan Reddy, Shri Mohammad Salim, Smt Neelam Sonkar, Shri Sisir Kumar Adhikari, Shri Ishwarlal Shankarlal Jain and Shri P. Bhattacharya.
IndianBureaucracy.com wishes the very best.
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