Ministry of Road Transport and Highways

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Ministry of Road Transport and Highways
सड़क परिवहन और राजमार्ग मंत्रालय
Emblem of India.svg
Ministry overview
Formed July 1942; 81 years ago (1942-07)
Type Government
Jurisdiction IndiaRepublic of India
Headquarters Parivahan Bhavan
1,Parliament Street
New Delhi
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Annual budget Increase ₹52,189 crores (2014-2015) [1]
Ministers responsible
  • Nitin Gadkari, Minister of Transport
  • P Radhakrishnan, Minister of State for Transport
Child agencies
  • Roads Wing
  • Transport Wing
Website morth.nic.in

The Ministry of Road Transport and Highways, a branch of the Government of India, is the apex body for formulation and administration of the rules, regulations and laws relating to road transport, national highways and transport research, in order to increase the mobility and efficiency of the road transport system in India.Road transport is a critical infrastructure for economic development of the country.It influences the pace, structure and pattern of development.In India,roads are used to transport over 60% of the total goods and 85% of the passenger traffic.Hence, development of this sector is of paramount importance for the India and accounts for a significant part in the budget. From May 2014, the Minister for Road Transport and Highways is Nitin Gadkari.

History

Creation

The Department of War Transport was formed in July, 1942, by the bifurcation of the then Department Of Communications into two Departments:[2]

(i) Department of Posts

(ii) Department of War Transport.

Functions

The functions allocated to the Department of War Transport include Major Ports, Railways Priorities, utilization of road and water transport, Petrol rationing and Producer Gas. Broadly speaking, the functions of the War Transport Department were to coordinate the demands for transport in war time, Coastal Shipping and the administration and development of major ports. Later, the planning of export was undertaken as a corollary to the Departments control of transport priorities.

Changes made over years

  • 1957: Department of War Transport was renamed as Ministry of Transport & Communications and Department of transport was placed under it.
  • 1966: On 25 January, under President's order the Department of Transport, Shipping & Tourism was placed under Ministry of Transport and Aviation.
  • 1967: On 13 March, the Ministry of Transport and Aviation was bifurcated into Ministry of Shipping and Transport and the Ministry of Tourism and Civil Aviation.
  • 1985: On 25 September, during reorganisation the Ministry of Transport and Shipping became the Department of Surface Transport under the Ministry of Transport.
  • 1986: On 22 October, the Department of Surface Transport under Ministry of Transport was renamed as Ministry of Surface Transport .
  • 1999: On 15 October, Ministry of Surface Transport was subsequently re-organized into departments, namely Department of Shipping and Department of Road Transport and Highways.
  • 2000: On 17 November, the Ministry of Surface Transport was bifurcated into two Ministries namely Ministry of Road Transport and Highways and Ministry of Shipping.
  • 2004: On 2 October, Ministry of Shipping and Ministry of Road Transport has again been merged and renamed as Ministry of Shipping and Road Transport and Highways

There are two departments under it:

  • Department of Shipping
  • Department of Road transport and Highways

Organisational Setup

  • The Secretary (Road Transport & Highways) is assisted Joint Secretary (Road Transport),Director General (Road Development),Financial Advisor,Advisor(Transport Research).[3]
  • Joint Secretary looks after transport administration, public grievances, vigilance road safety and co-ordination & public relations[3]
  • Accounts Wing is headed by Chief Controller of Accounts who is responsible for accounts budget, work and study.[3]
  • Advisor (Transport Research) renders necessary data support to various wings of the Ministry for policy planning,transport co-ordination,economic and statistical analysis on various modes of transport with which the ministry is concerned.[3]
  • Director General (Road Development ) is responsible for Development & Maintenance of National Highways apart from Central Sector roads and Central road funds.

Following are the autonomous agencies,subordinate offices regional offices under the Director General.[3]

Agencies

Regional Offices

The ministry has two wings functioning under it:

  • Roads Wing
  • Transport Wing

Roads Wing

Main responsibilities of the roads wing are:[4]

  • Planning,development and maintenance of National Highways
  • Extends technical and financial support to the state government for development of state roads and roads of inter-state connectivity and national importance.
  • Setting standards for building and maintenance of roads and bridges.
  • Archiving important technical knowledge generated through projects and R&D.

Transport Wing

Main responsibilities of the transport wing are:[citation needed]

  • Motor Vehicle Legislation
  • Taxation of motor vehicles
  • Compulsory insurance for vehicles
  • Promotion of Transport co-operatives in the field of motor transport.
  • Setting National road safety standards
  • Compiling data on road accidents and evolving a Road safety culture among the people in the country
  • Providing grants to NGOs in accordance with laid down guidelines.

Acts

Over years the ministry has passed several acts to maintain law and order in Road Transport in the country

  • The Road Transport Corporations Act,1950
  • The National Highways Act,1956
  • The Motor Vehicles Act,1988
  • The National Highways Authority of India Act,1988

Statistics

India has one of the largest road networks of over 4.885 million km consisting of :[5]

Road Length Distribution
Roads Length
National Highways/Expressways 92,851 km
State Highways 1,42,687 km
Other Roads 46,49,462 km
Total 48,85,000 km

The total road length of India had grown more than 11 times in 60 years from 1951-2011 also the length of the surfaced roads ha increased about 16 times over the same period.The connectivity in India has tremendously improved due to formation of new surface roads.[6]

10
20
30
40
50
1950-51
1970-71
2000-01
2010-11
  •   Total length of roads (in lakh km)
  •   Total length of surfaced roads (in lakh km)

For development of roads in the country the government has made an allocation of ₹19,423.88 crores under the Central Road Fund for 2013-2014 with the following breakup:[7]

Type Grants
Grants to State Governments and UTs for State Roads ₹2,659.91 crores
Grants to SGs and UTs for inte-state connectivity and roads of national importance ₹262.22 crores
National Highways ₹9,881.95 crores
Rural Roads ₹5,827.20 crores
Railways ₹1092.60 crores
Total ₹19,423.88 crores

Government Initiatives

The government has provided various incentives for private and foreign sector investments in the roads sector. 100% FDI is allowed in the sectors of land transport to promote building of highway bridges, toll roads, and vehicular tunnels; services incidental to transport such as cargo handling is incidental to land transport; construction and maintenance of roads, bridges; and construction and maintenance of roads and highways offered on build-operate-transfer (BOT) basis, including collection of toll.

A 10-year tax exemption under Section 80 IA has been granted to the Highway building projects to attract private investors.The ministry has also framed a ‘Special Accelerated Road Development Programme in North Eastern Region’ for improving road connectivity to remote places in this region. The estimated cost of the proposal is USD 2.53 billion. The Union Budget 2012–13 proposed an increase of allocation of the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways by 14% to ₹25,360 crore (US$3.8 billion).

The World Bank has approved a USD 975 million loan for developing the first phase of the eastern arm of the USD 17.21 billion Dedicated Freight Corridor Project in India. The Dedicated Freight Corridor Corporation of India Ltd. has tied up with the Japanese Bank of Industrial Cooperation for USD 14.56 billion funding as loan for the first phase and it is likely to be commissioned in 2016.[8]

The Prime Minister Gram Sadak Yojana (PMGSY) is a scheme for development of rural roads in India. The Construction of Rural Roads Project (CRRP) is another initiative focused on rural development.

See also

References

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External links

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