Ministries come together to boost rural transport

NEW DELHI: In its bid to increase the availability of public transport in rural areas, the road transport ministry will liberalise the permit regime and will come out with norms to allow vehicles including motorcycle taxis, e-rickshaws and jugaads fo this purpose.
Sources said the speed of vehicles such as e-rickshaws and jugaads would be capped at 25 kmph and there will be some benchmarking for safety as well.
The rural development ministry has prepared a proposal to roll out a pilot Pradhan Mantri Gramin Parivahan Yojna (PMGPY) to encourage entrepreneurship in villages and to improve connectivity. This will push local employment as well.
The road transport ministry along with rural development department will also provide training to drivers. According to estimates of skill development ministry, 52% of the demand of skilled workforce in automotive sector is for drivers.
Both the ministries held a talk on the scheme for rural transport on Wednesday. The rural development ministry is proposing to provide substantial grant to the rural entrepreneurs for buying vehicles, which have seating capacity for 8-10 persons. It’s learnt that the selection of such operators will be selected through local self-help groups including of women, dalits and tribals belonging to Below Poverty Line (BPL) families.
“It’s not yet worked out how much will be the outgo for providing grant to local vehicle operators. But it could be between Rs 1,000-1,500 crore annually,” said a government source.
Finance minister Arun Jaitley in his budget speech had said that government will bring changes in the Motor Vehicles Act and open up the road transport sector in the passenger segment. He had also that the scheme would lead to more efficient public transport facilities, greater public convenience, new investment in this sector besides creation of new jobs for youth, growth of start-up entrepreneurs and other multiplier effects.