Recurrent road accidents usually over the hilly roads of the State have been a cause of concern for the Transport Department and the public at large. So many conferences of officials from transport and other departments in the State have been held in the past to suggest measures of reducing road accidents and loss of precious lives. Of course, many good and useful suggestions have come from these meetings and the Government has implemented them. However, notwithstanding all such measures, frequency in road accidents has not come down. Hence addressing the issue on regular basis and finding out new and more effective preventive measures will be an on-going exercise with the Traffic Department.
The Department of Transport has recently issued an order that manufacturers of all new models of vehicles to be introduced in the State shall get them inspected and tested by the committee of officers from Jammu, Doda, Srinagar and Leh-Ladakh. ARTOs concerned, DGM SRTC Jammu / Srinagar, Dy Director State Motor Garages and AEE Mechanical Division concerned, besides representatives from State Motor Garages Leh/ Doda sub-regions will be the members for each Sub-Regional Committee. ARTOs will be nodal officers of the committee. This order has triggered a controversy since the motor vehicle dealing companies in the State have expressed their resentment to it. Jammu Chamber of Commerce and Industries has joined the voice of protest raised by the vehicle dealers. The argument of vehicle dealers is that every new model when introduced in the country is issued certificates by the Central authority, Automotive Research Association of India (ARAI) of India, after taking care of all the aspects related to safety/ security, testing pollution level etc. The State also had a mechanism of putting the new models under test and previously only State level Empowered Committee headed by Transport Commissioner used to issue the necessary certificate before the introduction/ launch of new model of the vehicles in the State.
Under the new order of the Transport Department, it will be mandatory for all the manufacturers/ vehicle dealers to provide requisite certificate from the testing agencies like ARAI Pune, ICAT Ahmednagar and approved AutoCAD / Schematic Drawings together with appropriate amount of fee prescribed under SRO 64 dated 13-02-2012. Before introducing the new vehicle/ model these committees will examine all aspects of new type of vehicles from mechanical/ technical point of view taking the base model in respect of each category inspected/ tested to make suitable and reasonable recommendations to the State level Empowered Committee headed by Transport Commissioner. The question raised by the vehicle dealers is that the order under discussion is only duplication of a process and hence will result in two things. Firstly, it will mean long delay in introducing a new model of vehicle in the State. Will it be feasible on national and regional levels to indefinitely delay the introduction of new model vehicles in the state by opening four new stations wherefrom certification will be needed and secondly, will it not give rise to corruption when we look at it on ground level? Both of these arguments carry weight and cannot be brushed aside as meaningless. It is true that on paper, the regional committees will be given time frame within which they shall have to send in their reports on any prospective new model being introduced in the State. But practically, it means long delay and waste of time. About corruption, Transport Department is known for rampant corruption and as such it has almost become immune to taunts and rebukes of consumers and the public in general. Each company coming in with new model will try to get the certification as early as possible. In the process, space is opened for corruption as we all know.
However, the argument put forth by the Transport Commissioner is also valid and should not be brushed aside cursorily. It is a fact that most of the State is hilly and roads are hilly roads fraught with many dangers for the traffic that are not there for the traffic in plains. Therefore, as a precautionary measure, further testing of new models to ensure that these are roadworthy as far as hilly roads are concerned, is reasonable. Double checking of their road worthiness is not bad. However, in this controversy, a via media shall have to be found. A system that neither delays nor gives rise to corrupt practices has to be evolved. We think that if the two sides meaning the vehicle dealers and the Transport Department sit together and discuss all aspects of the issue, a solution should be visible. That would be a sensible and democratic way of handling this issue.
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