Gandhinagar:

The Gujarat Road Safety Authority Bill 2018 was passed unopposed in the assembly on the first day of the budget session.

The bill passed to replace the related ordinance of last year brought in the wake of an apex court order.

Minister R C Faldu presented the bill in the house. In it there was a provision for setting up of the road safety authority which would act as the main agency for road safety. It also has provision for Road safety fund and up to Rs one lakh of fine for violation of road safety rules.

Faldu said that the bill has been brought with an aim to reduce the number of road mishaps by 50% by 2020. Last year the number of such mishaps in Gujarat was 19081 in comparison to 21859 of 2016. Gujarat has 1.29 crore old vehicles out of 2.30 registered vehicles. Till now there was no legal provisions for taking action against such vehicles which were involved in more accidents but with this bill it would be possible.

DeshGujarat