Himanta Biswa Sarma Bats For Effective Vehicle Scrappage Policy Execution

HT Bureau

GUWAHATI, June 12: Chief minister Himanta Biswa Sarma asked the Transport department to expand the scale and scope of contactless services as a part of the state government’s mission of enhancing ease of living to the citizens.

Chairing a meeting with the DTOs and other officials of transport department at Janata Bhawan here on Monday, the chief minister held a threadbare discussion with the department officials and asked them to be proactive in expanding contactless services of the department to the convenience of the people across the state.

The chief minister said that in the last two years around 23 lakh people availed contactless services and the seamless implementation of these services resulted in savings of Rs 345 crore to the economy. He also said that the department through its various services has generated revenue to the tune of Rs 1,361.65 crore in the FY 2022-23.

The chief minister during the meeting has also asked the department for effective implementation of Vehicle Scrappage Policy Assam 2022.

He asked the transport officials to incentivise people to handover End of Life Vehicles. It may be noted that as fallout of this policy, 764 vehicles have already been handed over to Registration and Functions of Vehicle Scrapping Facility Rules (RVSF).

In view of the reported loss of lives primarily due to road accidents across the state, the chief minister reviewed the accident hotspots. He asked the officials to take emergent necessary steps so that road accidents can be avoided to a great extent. He also instructed the officials to strictly implement traffic laws. Moreover, for the benefit of the people at large, he also asked the transport officials to strictly execute the penal provisions and penalise the offenders.

The chief minister during the meeting also took a review of the working of existing manpower of the transport department. He also asked the department to take steps to introduce training for the newly inducted man power in the department. He also took a review of the new initiatives undertaken by the department.

Transport minister Parimal Suklabaidya, principal secretary to the chief minister Samir Kumar Sinha, transport commissioner Adil Khan and other senior officers of the department were present at the meeting.