News Analysis India

Tag: Ministry of Road Transport and Highways

  • Government makes location tracking device mandatory for vehicles carrying hazardous goods 

    By PTI

    NEW DELHI: The Ministry of Road Transport and Highways (MoRTH) on Monday made it mandatory for goods vehicles, manufactured on or after September 1, used for carrying dangerous or hazardous materials to be fitted with a location tracking device.

    The ministry in a notification said it has been brought to the notice that vehicles, which are not under the ambit of the national permit, carrying various gases viz. argon, nitrogen, oxygen etc and goods of dangerous or hazardous nature, are not fitted with Vehicle Location Tracking Devices.

    “Accordingly, the ministry has mandated that every vehicle of categories N2 and N3, manufactured on and after the 1st day of September 2022, in the case of new models, and 1st day of January, 2023, in the case of existing models, carrying dangerous or hazardous goods, shall be fitted with a vehicle tracking system device as per Automotive Industry Standard (AIS) 140,” it said.

    Category N2 vehicle means motor vehicles used for the carriage of goods and having a gross vehicle weight exceeding 3.5 tonnes but not exceeding 12 tonnes.

    Category N3 vehicle means vehicles used for the carriage of goods and having a gross vehicle weight exceeding 12 tonnes.

    NEW DELHI: The Ministry of Road Transport and Highways (MoRTH) on Monday made it mandatory for goods vehicles, manufactured on or after September 1, used for carrying dangerous or hazardous materials to be fitted with a location tracking device.

    The ministry in a notification said it has been brought to the notice that vehicles, which are not under the ambit of the national permit, carrying various gases viz. argon, nitrogen, oxygen etc and goods of dangerous or hazardous nature, are not fitted with Vehicle Location Tracking Devices.

    “Accordingly, the ministry has mandated that every vehicle of categories N2 and N3, manufactured on and after the 1st day of September 2022, in the case of new models, and 1st day of January, 2023, in the case of existing models, carrying dangerous or hazardous goods, shall be fitted with a vehicle tracking system device as per Automotive Industry Standard (AIS) 140,” it said.

    Category N2 vehicle means motor vehicles used for the carriage of goods and having a gross vehicle weight exceeding 3.5 tonnes but not exceeding 12 tonnes.

    Category N3 vehicle means vehicles used for the carriage of goods and having a gross vehicle weight exceeding 12 tonnes.

  • Ministry proposes 40 kmph speed limit for motorcycles with child pillion passenger

    By PTI

    NEW DELHI: With an aim to introduce safety measures for child passengers, the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways (MoRTH) has proposed that the speed of a motorcycle, with a child up to age 4 years being carried as a pillion, shall not be more than 40 kmph.

    The ministry in a draft notification has also proposed that the driver shall ensure that the child pillion passenger, aged between 9 months and 4 years, must wear a crash helmet.

    “The speed of the motorcycle with the child up to age 4 years being carried as a pillion, shall not be more than 40 kmph,” according to the draft notification issued by the ministry.

    The ministry further said that the driver of a motorcycle shall ensure that for children below four years, safety harness shall be used for attaching the child to the driver of the motorcycle.

    A safety harness is a vest to be worn by the child, which shall be adjustable, with a pair of straps attached to the vest and forming shoulder loops to be worn by the driver.

    “This way, the upper torso of the child is securely attached to the driver. A feature by which this is achieved is by attaching the straps to the back of the vest and crossing the straps over the vest so that two large crossing-over loops are formed that pass between the legs of the passenger,” the ministry explained.

    The MoRTH has also asked for objections and suggestions to these draft rules, if any.

  • Centre asks NHAI, automakers to tighten IT security after cyber attack threats

    By PTI
    NEW DELHI: The Ministry of Road Transport and Highways on Sunday alerted NHAI, NHIDCL and its other wings besides automobile makers to augment their IT security systems after reports regarding threats of possible cyber attacks targeted at the Indian transport sector.

    The ministry said it has received an alert from the Indian Computer Emergency Response Team (CERT-In) about possible cyber attacks.

    “The Ministry of Road Transport and Highways received an alert from CERT-In regarding targeted intrusion activities directed towards Indian Transport sector with possible malicious intentions. The Ministry has advised departments and organisations under transport sector to strengthen the security posture of their infrastructure,” the Ministry said in a statement.

    It has requested NIC, National Highways Authority of India (NHAI), National Highways and Infrastructure Development Corporation (NHIDCL), Indian Road Congress (IRC), Indian Academy of Highway Engineers (IAHE), State PWDs, Testing agencies and Automobile manufacturers to conduct the security audit of the entire IT system by CERT-In certified agencies.

    It advised such security audits on a regular basis besides taking all actions as per their recommendations.

    Also it asked the audit report and the action taken report to be regularly submitted to the ministry.

    Last year in June also NHAI has reported a cyber attack on its email server and had said that prompt action resulted in no data loss.

    It had shut down its server then as a precaution.

  • SC notice to Centre on plea for mandatory common utility duct along highways

    By ANI
    NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court on Wednesday issued notice to the Central government on a PIL seeking directions to mandatorily provide common utility duct or corridors for all public utilities in the construction plan of highways and other roadways to avoid duplication of civil works.

    A Bench headed by Chief Justice of India SA Bobde while asking the government to reply on the plea said, “We will see this. It’s a good idea. Notice issued.”

    The plea filed by Haripriya Patel sought directions to the government to ensure that all public utility service providers mandatorily use the facilities and avoid unnecessary re-digging or trenching of roadways.

    The underground ducts along the roads carrying all public utility cables like that of water, electricity, telephone or gas, would make the repairing or wiring work easier.

    The petitioner said the plea was filed highlighting the failure of the relevant authorities to mandatorily provide for common utility duct or utility corridors along the highways for all utilities in the construction plan of large infrastructure projects, despite recommendations for such facilities by various expert bodies and specific provision for such facilities in guidelines dated November 22, 2016 issued by Ministry of Road Transport and Highways (MoRTH), Government of India and National Digital Communications Policy 2018.

    The plea sought direction to the government to implement the November 22, 2016 guidelines of MoRTH, Government of India, and National Digital Communications Policy 2018 which contemplate common utility ducts and corresponding regulations.

    Not providing common utility duct or utility corridors is causing “unnecessary expenditure” on subsequent execution of the same work by public utility services such as telecom companies and other agencies, plea stated.

    “There is a long-standing proposal for adopting a holistic method while executing large infrastructure projects relating to roadways, which shall include provision for IT network and other utility services. It will lead to better utilization of capital expenditure on infrastructure and boost the Information and Communications Technology (ICT) Infrastructure of our country.”

    “Joint construction of highways and telecom network is not only feasible but pragmatic because multiple ducts laid along the highway can be used to avoid duplication of civil work for various essential public services, thereby avoiding loss of public funds; avoid rapid deterioration of roads due to recurring civil work (excavation/trenching) on account of various essential public services; avoid road accidents due to perennial maintenance of the infrastructure projects; real time highway traffic management; implementation of efficient toll facilities; and uninterrupted telecom network and service,” the plea added.

    Most importantly, the proposal to lay common utility ducts seeks to replace the prevalent practice of laying the road first and re-digging it to lay ducts later, which adds to the capital cost and causes additional traffic and road safety issues, the petition further submitted

    It further stated that the proposal of common utility ducts along the roadways have been under consideration by various government bodies since 2002 and various government policies and guidelines also propose the same, however, the said proposal is yet to be approved due to lack of coordination between different government ministries/departments and thus, the said proposal is stuck in a bureaucratic bottleneck for the last 20 years approximately.

    The common utility duct proposal will benefit all the stakeholders without exception, especially, when our country is set for the rapid expansion of road infrastructure as well as IT infrastructure in the present decade, the petitioner submitted.