Chairing the Meeting on the topic ‘Roadworthiness of vehicles’ and ‘Development and maintenance of wayside rest areas along National Highways’here today, the Union Road Transport and Highways Minister, Shri Oscar Fernandes said that tremendous development of National Highways has thrown open various challenges.
The rising trend in long distance haulage necessitates availability of adequate resting places along the routes, he said .
The Minister further informed that the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways has decided to develop Research and Test Reaches from budgetary resources which may serve the purpose of rest lay bys for the road users and providing basic facilities.
This has been decided as a confidence building measure and with a view to bring in new emerging materials and technologies to conserve scarce natural resources and bring in cost effectiveness. These would be maintained through private participation.
Presentations on ‘Roadworthiness of vehicles’ and ‘Development and maintenance of wayside rest areas along National Highways’ were made before the committee members.
The members of the Consultative Committee attached to the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways that attended the meeting include Sardar Sukhdev Singh LIBRA, Shri Mohinder Singh Kaypee, Shri K .Narayan Rao , Shri Mangani Lal Mandal, Shri Kaushalendra Kumar, Shri Shyamal Chakraborty , Shri Thawar Chand Gehlot and Shri D P Tripathi.
The members emphasised that implementation of schemes and laws needs to be monitored and ensured to bear fruits. The Minister thanked Members of Parliament for their valuable inputs and assured to accommodate their suggestions as far as possible.
The Secretary, Road Transport and Highways and Chairman of the National Highway Authority(NHAI) of India were also present. Senior officicers and enginneers from the Ministry and NHAI also attended the meeting.
