“Products and technologies showcased can help enforcement substantially”

“We will provide the best enabling environment”

You have been to nearly all the stalls at the TrafficInfraTech Expo, spending considerable time understanding the technology. What is your impression about the show?
I am very impressed with TrafficInfraTech expo. It was an eye-opener for me. The various kinds of technologies that private sector and technology providers have developed is truly remarkable. I feel enriched. I am particularly impressed by the crash-barriers, traffic calming devices and other road equipment. The traffic enforcement measures and the integrated traffic solutions for metropolitan cities were very impressive. It was a wonderful learning experience. We have gathered ability, knowledge and experience here. Currently, these initiatives are scattered across the state, metropolitan polices and across other departments. We want to put them together.

Would these product/systems be utilized in the Ministry’s future initiatives?
These systems are already being utilized by our concessionaires. The ministry is just an enabler/facilitator and we expect our partners, concessionaires and stakeholders to make full use of these technologies. We will provide the best enabling environment, national standards, and funding to various state agencies. Thereafter, it is up to the states, concessionaires and developers to use these products to the maximum. We will certainly encourage the use of high-quality products for Road Safety and enforcement of various traffic related issues.

Behavioural issues too need a looking into as you had mentioned in your address.
If I am conscious about the way I am driving, whether I adhere to traffic rules or not, whether I accept the norms or not… all these aspects that form the behavior on the roads have a huge impact on road and traffic safety. These are important behavioural issues. Enforcement is one part of the change. Another part of the change has to come through the incentives to change. For instance, if a traffic calming device is installed 100meters ahead of a junction, a driver may slow down and improve. So, we need to take stock of all behavioural interventions and work together.

How effective are shows like TrafficInfraTech Expo?
It is a continuous interaction between government, service providers, technology providers, the financial institutions and an inter-play of these things that helps sharing of information and improving of the situation. The NHAI (National Highways Authority of India), the Ministry, IHMCL (Indian Highways Management Company Limited) are all working together for road safety and for better transportation. This kind of gathering and seminars are very important to facilitate interaction among the stakeholders.

What poses the biggest challenge still is the fatality rate on our roads. What initiatives is the Ministry taking?
The road safety initiatives have already begun. We have marked money and have already started working on some proposals. The initiative is ongoing from many years.

Nearly 1.5 lakh people are killed every year on our roads. Now, we are getting very conscious about road safety and also taking steps to address the issue. But it has always been an ongoing process.

What major challenges do you face in ensuring smoothness and good implementation of the policies?
Road construction is going on at a really fast pace in our country but our main issue remains the availability of land. India is densely populated and we have to be very economical with how we use the land for road construction. Earlier, we could afford to buy the land, and we were allowed to use the land along the road side for future expansion. Now, we have to use more technology and optimize our designs to minimize the pressure on land. In states like Maharashtra there are a lot of utilities like water, power and gas connections below the roads. They have to be shifted as well. So, we are using the technology heavily to develop our project reports. We use ground penetrating radar technologies to locate the utilities, we use laser technology to take photographs of the road, we use GPS technology for planning and ‘E (electronic)’ enabled decision support system for good quality DPR. All this will translate into good quality roads. Once these systems are in place, we ensure that intelligent technology is used for road safety.

Would you want to give any message to the road users?
Yes. The Ministry of Road Transport & Highways is totally committed to the issue of road safety. Other than ear-marking money, we are trying to create awareness among citizens about road safety. We are trying to bring forth the point that road safety is now a public health issue. If 1.5 lakh people die every year on our roads, it is as serious an issue as other diseases like malaria or even dengue. We need to work together with the help of media and through all our opinion builders and cut the accidents/ death on road by 50% by 2020. We will need good road behavior by the road users to facilitate that.