Preamble

The National Road Transport Policy aims at facilitating an efficient and safe road transportation system to fulfill the demand of users and the aspirations for improving the quality of life and concomitant economic development. The policy document seeks to cover transportation of both passengers and freight, duly taking into account the environmental, technological, fiscal aspects related to motorized transport. The policy recognizes the important backward and forward linkages as manifest in developing an efficient road infrastructure on the one hand and the criticality of road safety on the other.

As the issues covered in this policy document have focused on macro issues from a national perspective, it would be complementary to the National Urban Transport Policy document separately being formulated by the Ministry of Urban Development. The objectives of the National Road Transport Policy would also complement the efforts towards augmentation and strengthening of the road network in the country through the initiatives of the States and Centre (including the rural road development through the Ministry of Rural Development).

An efficient transport system is a pre-requisite for sustained economic development. It is not only the key infrastructural input for the growth process but also plays a significant role in promoting national integration, which is particularly important in a large country like India. The transport system also plays an important role of promoting the development of the backward regions and integrating them with the mainstream economy by opening them to trade and investment. In a liberalized set-up, an efficient transport network becomes all the more important in order to increase productivity and enhancing the competitive efficiency of the economy in the world market.

Road infrastructure facilitates movement of men and material, helps trade and commerce, links industry and agriculture to markets and opens up backward regions of the country. In addition, the road system also provides linkages to other modes such as Railways, Airports, Ports and Inland Waterway Transport and complements the efforts of these modes in meeting the needs of transportation.

The road transport sector in our country has expanded manifold in the first fifty years of planned development, both in terms of spread and capacity as indicated in the Annexure-I. The growth in the importance of road transport within the transport sector is borne out by its growing share in GDP. The
share of road transport in GDP is presently 3.69% which accounts for a major share of all transport modes which contribute 5.5% to GDP.The road network though extensive remains inadequate in terms of spread, suffers from a number of deficiencies and is unable to handle high traffic density at many places and has poor riding quality in some segments. The main reason for these shortcomings is the inadequacy of funds. Efforts are now underway to address these issues and improvement in the road network has been accorded a very high priority. This expansion of capacity will have to be accompanied by technological upgradation in many critical areas. The need for new technology acquires greater urgency because the sector had been suffering from slow technological development for a long time.

• The Indian road network is seemingly very large. However, only 47% of the roads are paved.
  
• The high-density corridors of road linking metro cities and ports are crowded and are carrying traffic more than capacity.
  
• About 14000 kms of National Highway require four laning, while 10000 kms require widening from single lane to two- lane to facilitate normal flow of existing road traffic.
  
• The average productivity of a truck is 200 kms. a day as against 350- 400 kms. that would be possible through reduction of congestion.

The demand for transport is affected by structural changes taking place in the economy. This growth in transport demand has to be met by expanding domestic supply as transport nfrastructure is non-tradable. Investment in transport must reflect the need to make up for existing capacity shortages and also to allow for growth in demand.

The Tenth Plan Document (2002-2007) reiterates the need for expeditious development of the Primary system [National Highways (NH) and Expressways], Secondary system [State Highways (SH) and Major District Roads(MDR)] and Rural Roads. The expeditious completion of the Golden Quadrilateral as also the North-South and East-West corridors is therefore essential. The encouragement of private sector participation in the Highway Sector, levy of tolls on NH network, phased removal of deficiencies in the existing NH network, provision of wayside amenities along highways, popularization of use of containers and multi-axle vehicles in the carriage of goods for reducing transportation cost and road safety are some of the other major thrust areas. With the year 2004 being declared as the year of Road Safety, there is a concomitant requirement to tackle road safety related issues on priority.

The details of targets and achievements during the Ninth and the Tenth Five Year Plan are at Annexure-II.

Outlay for the Tenth Plan

The outlay for Central Sector roads for the Tenth Plan is Rs.59,490 crore. This includes Rs.34, 790 crore of budgetary support and Rs.24,700 crore of internal and extra budgetary resources (IEBR).

Environment & Road Infrastructure

In the Road Transport Sector, energy planning has a special significance, because transport is the second largest consumer of energy. The growth of transport not only leads to pressure on limited availability of non-renewable energy but also gives rise to broader environmental issues. As the demand for transport services rises, it leads to increased use of scarce land and contributes to the atmospheric pollution in a big way. Sound pollution, road congestion, etc., are other environmental hazards due to transport. It is, therefore, necessary that environmental concerns should be built into road infrastructure project planning right from the beginning – at the stage of site selection, alignment finalisation, etc. The Government is alive to these concerns and has mandated that all road infrastructure projects require environmental clearance before they are taken up.

Data Base

It is well recognized that an adequate database comprising of information on number of vehicles and freight moved will provide suitable inputs to policies concerning the sector, which is collected and estimated in the Ministry. The Planning Commission had in the past instituted studies on traffic flows and costs of different modes including road transport, with a view to evolve comprehensive transport policy concerning all modes. There would be need for initiation of such studies by the Planning Commission, as it would be useful to railways and road transport. The Rangarajan Committee had also suggested that such information on origin-destination pattern of movement could be carried by the NSSO of Ministry of Planning.

Pending initiation of such studies, the DoRT&H collects need based information to help in evolving policies for the sector. Such efforts would be further strengthened.

The need for adequate and efficient transport system for promoting economic development is well known. While considering the creation of new transport facility in backward regions however, it must be borne in mind that transport is only one of the essential elements for development of the region and it is not necessary that highly capital-intensive transport projects will by themselves bring about economic development.

There has also been persistent demand for subsidising transport operations in backward and remote areas on the plea that the traffic and the low level of income would not generate the kind of demand which could bear the cost of providing transport services. While the responsibility of ensuring efficient operation of transport services in these regions is that of the State, it does not necessarily mean that the state should be direct provider of these services. Whether it relates to providing transport services in the backward area or in isolated and hilly region, the State could involve private operators and award routes on the basis of least subsidy, so that benefits are targeted and costs become apparent.

The total road length in India has increased significantly from 3.99 lakh kms as of 31.3.1951 to 33.83 lakh kms as of 31.3.2002. The surfaced road lengths have also increased from 1.57 lakh kms to around 16.04 lakh kms in the same period. Surface length constitutes 47.3% of total road length as of 31.3.2002, up from a level of 39.3% of the total road length as of 31.3.1951.

Among the different categories of roads, National Highways constitute around 2%, State Highways 4%, PWD roads 21% and urban roads 7%. The rest of the road length in the country is accounted for by the rural roads. While development and maintenance of National Highways is under the purview of the Centre, all other categories of roads come under the purview of the respective States/UT Governments.

The country's road network can broadly be divided into three categories viz. (a) National Highways (b) State Highways and Major District Roads, and (c) rural roads. The National Highways, running across the length and breadth of the country, have a length of 65,569 km. Though they comprise only about 2 per cent of the road network, they carry about 40 per cent of the road based traffic.

State Highways (SHs) and Major District Roads (MDRs) constitute the secondary system of road infrastructure of the country. The State Highways provide linkages with the National Highways, district headquarters, important towns, tourist centres and minor ports. Their total length is about 1,37,711 km. Major District Roads run within the district, connecting areas of production with markets, rural areas to the district headquarters and to State Highways/National Highways. It is assessed that the secondary system caries about 40 per cent of the total road traffic and comprises about 20% of the total road length. By acting as the link between the rural and urban areas, the State Highways and Major District Roads contribute significantly to the development of the rural economy and industrial growth of the country.

The last link in the chain is rural roads. Rural connectivity is a key component of rural development and contributes significantly to generating higher agricultural incomes and productive employment opportunities besides promoting access to economic and social services. Studies show that rural roads have a significant impact on poverty reduction as well.

The existing road network is showing signs of serious distress because of neglect of maintenance, which is highly uneconomic from the national point of view. Out of the total length of 65,569 km., about 25,000 km is under severe strain due to high volume of traffic. One of the main factors responsible for this is the upgradation of large segments of State Highways to National Highways during the Ninth Plan. Total estimated cost of removing deficiencies on National Highways is about Rs.1,65,000 crore. The present allocation for maintenance of National Highways is only 40% of the requirements based on the norms for maintenance. The situation in respect of State roads is still worse. Due to resource constraints private sector also need to be involved in maintenance of National Highways.

Employment Generation

Road construction activity is inherently employment generating. State Governments may explore the possibility of forming Cooperative Societies of unemployed youths(skilled/unskilled), who could be given some basic training and thereafter the Societies could take up assignments for maintenance, tree plantation, protection of assets activities through competitive bidding process. States like Kerala and Maharashtra are reported to have such Societies.

Induction of New Technology

There is an urgent need for the introduction of the new technology in the designs, engineering and construction methods as also carrying out surveys through remote sensing techniques particularly in the upgradation of the roads which are covered by the HDC. Use of machines to improve both the quality and speed of construction need to be pursued more vigorously.

The possibility of creating equipment leasing companies need to be encouraged. The concept of awarding road projects with huge costs as turnkey Engineering Procurement Construction (EPC) contracts helps to reduce construction time and improves quality. These steps would help in reducing the abnormally high time taken for construction of roads by at least 50%. Several new materials of road construction are also emerging such as polymer modified bitumen, geosynthetics etc. that would need to be encouraged depending upon the cost effectiveness.

National Highway Development Project (Nhdp)

A massive programme for 4/6 laning of about 14,279 km length of existing National Highways falling under NHDP phase-I and phase-II have been taken up at a cost of Rs.64,639 crores. This aims at 4/6 laning of existing 2-lane National Highways comprising Golden Quadrilateral (GQ) linking Delhi-Mumbai-Chennai-Kolkata and North-South, East-West Corridors connecting Srinagar to Kanyakumari and Silchar to Porbundar. The total length of GQ (after alignment finalisation) is 5,846 kms. The GQ is expected to be substantially completed by December, 2004 and the entire NHDP phase-I and phase-II by December, 2007.

Shifting of Utilities

Development of roads particularly 4-laning under NHDP sometimes require shifting/relocation of utilities like electric lines, telephone lines and water pipes etc. Despite the entire allocation cost being met by NHAI and advance payments being made, there have been instances of inordinate delays.

Cutting of Trees

Improvement of NHs, particularly widening sometimes require cutting of trees in many reaches. Despite the payment of prescribed compensation for plantation of trees, approval for tree cutting has taken a lot of time in some States. Sometimes additional conditions are put which are difficult to implement.

Law and Order

There have been problem of law and order in some States which has affected the progress of NHDP. The problems of insurgency in some of the States of the North-East Region is also acute, which has adversely affected work on roads. There have also been instances of assault on field level officers. State Government and local administration need to take effective steps to curb such incidents and create an atmosphere of security.

Encroachments And Ribbon Development Along National Highways

Encroachment of government lands is a common phenomenon. Almost all NHs suffer from this menace. The Central Government which has the control of National Highways has notified (Land and Traffic) Act(2002) for removal of encroachments, control of traffic and control of access, which is applicable only within the right of way of National Highways. The State Governments have also to enact similar statutes for control of road side construction activities. Some of the States like Assam, Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh, Haryana and Karnataka have already enacted legislation in this regard.

Private Sector Participation & Toll Roads

Historically, investment in creation of transport infrastructure has largely been made by the State. In assessing the role of the private sector, a distinction has to be made between infrastructure and services. The basic road infrastructure, with a few exceptions in is under the purview of the public sector.

To bridge the resource gap and to instill competitive efficiency, efforts are being made to associate the private sector with road projects. However, the initial response has not been very encouraging and more innovative methods are needed to ensure greater participation of the private sector.

Levy of User Fees on roads is another alternative for generating additional resources for their upgrading. The major attraction of toll financing is speedier construction of roads which may otherwise be delayed due to budgetary constraints. Further, being implemented on a pay-as-you-use principle, they are usually constructed and operated on commercial principles implying efficiency in execution and better level of service to users.

The concept of direct tolling, viewed mainly as a user

charge has already been successfully implemented mainly on bridges and bypass roads and on four lane National Highways. The developer assumes the majority of the risk associated with design, construction, maintenance, operation and financing of the road. To encourage private sector participation, the Govt. has introduced annuity approach in which a fixed annual payment is made to the entrepreneur. Due to limitation of the budgetary resources, the role and participation of private sector are to be encouraged by and large for the development of National Highways.

Octroi and sales tax lead to unnecessary detention of vehicles, apart from causing harassment and adding to operating cost. At present, only a few states levy octroi. Beginning with small localities, these states should phase out levy of octroi. Further, Sales tax barriers may be put up only at the entry and exit points of States and not along the route. Streamlining procedures and computerization of sales tax posts may help in reducing detention time and curbing malpractices. With VAT system coming into force in near future, octroi and Sales Tax barriers are expected to be done away with, which would eliminate the barriers.

Technological Upgradation

There has been substantial induction of new technology in the personalized motor vehicles. However, in respect of trucks and buses, such technology upgradations have been somewhat slow. Low diesel prices in the past and extreme overloading made possible by lax implementation of rules and regulations (which by themselves not being very stringent), unhelpful of tax regime and congested roads – all led to delays in the induction of new technology in the transport industry. Moreover, the fabrication of bus body and the truck body has hitherto been virtually unregulated. The bus body code has been evolved and work on the same in respect of trucks is in progress. In order to implement these norms, a system of accreditation of body builders needs to be evolved.

It has been assessed that multi-axle vehicles save fuel upto the tune of 50% per tonne km. Reduced fuel consumption apart from monetary saving also has a salutary effect on reduction of pollution. Multi-axle vehicles are also more road-friendly as these put less stress on the road infrastructure. In fact, one multi-axle vehicle can be deemed equivalent of the load carrying capacity of four numbers of rigid axle-vehicles. In the advanced countries, bulk transportation is done on multi-axle vehicles while the rigid vehicles do the distribution at the local levels. However, in India generally rigid vehicles are used for both highway operations as also at local levels. It is assessed that whereas a rigid vehicle covers about 250 kms per day, the multi-axle vehicle covers around 400 kms per day. Similarly, emissions from the multi-axle vehicles per tonne of load carried are also correspondingly lower. It is, therefore, necessary to apply differential taxation to encourage the use of multi-axle vehicles. There is an urgent need that the country should profit from the increased use of low tare weight and heavy haul multi axle trucks, which are more fuel-efficient.

The harmonization of safety related aspects of auto components and motor vehicles with the prevalent global practices is also essential. A number of steps have been taken in respect of safety belts, tyres, head lamps, seat anchorages, rear and later under-run protective devices in heavy trucks, efficient breaking etc. There is a need to prepare a road safety map for automotive standards.

Danger From Roadside Hoardings

Hoardings/Advertisement boards are often erected by roadside within the right of way. The menace is visible on most of the NHs and gets aggravated wherever they pass through built up stretches. Such hoardings on NHs are illegal and against the norms laid down by the Ministry and have been known to cause accidents by distracting drivers. A concerted effort is required by State Governments for removal of such hoardings.

Danger From Speed Breakers

Speed breakers affect the traffic flow and are safety hazards if not properly constructed. There have been instances at local level, of construction of poorly designed speed breaker whenever any accident takes place. Further speed breakers on National Highways are not permitted.

Overloading Of Motor Vehicles

The payment design of road is based on the cumulative number of standard axle loads and therefore, higher axle loads cause premature distress on the road pavements which in turn increases the maintenance cost of Indian roads. It has been established that the amount of damage caused due to overloading to the road infrastructure and the life expectancy of the road far outweighs any short term gain. The highway pavements are designed for a particular load. The damaging affect of higher axle loading than the standard axle is governed by "Fourth Power Law". For example, an increase in axle load from 8 to 16 tonnes will result in damage to road by a factor of 16 and not by a factor of 2. An overloaded vehicle caused higher pollution besides inflicting high vehicle operating costs. Besides overloading is also a potential hazard not only to the driver of such vehicles but also to other road users.

The States and UTs are required to effectively enforce the provisions of Motor Vehicles Act, 1988 and Central Motor Vehicles Rules, 1989 to curb overloading.

Road Safety

No one can put up a price tag on human life, but there is loss to the family, to the community, to the nation, every time a person is killed or maimed or temporarily out of action as a result of a road accident. Safety on roads has become a major area of concern. The number of persons killed in road accidents has increased from 60,113 in the year 1992 to 84,674 in the year 2002. The sheer magnitude and severity of road accidents require immediate attention.

With about 5.5% of the total motor vehicle population in the world (1997) the number of fatalities (or persons killed) per ten thousand vehicles is 14.39 in India, compared to 17.10 in China and between 1.0 to 2.50 in many high income countries. Similarly, the fatality per 10,000 persons in our country in the year 2002 were 0.82 as against 0.83 in China, 1.48 in USA, 1.20 in France, 0.60 in U.K. and 0.88 in Australia.

Planning Commission had assessed the social cost of road accidents in the country in the year 1999-2000 at Rs.55,000 crores, which constituted about 3% of the Gross Domestic Product of the country for the year.

In so far as road accidents are concerned, there is a need to prepare a realistic National Road Safety Policy providing for concerted action by all concerned to bring down the number of accidents and fatalities. The existing road safety policy prepared in the year 1992 needs to be updated in the light of changing road and road transport scenario.

Road traffic injury prevention needs to be incorporated into broad range of activities such as, development and management of road infrastructure, provision of safety in vehicles, law and personnel, mobility planning, provision of health and hospital services, urban and environmental planning etc.

Remedial Solutions

An analysis of accident data shows that the primary causes of road accidents are driver's fault (83.5%), pedestrian fault/fault of passengers (4.7%), mechanical defect in vehicles (3%), bad roads (1.1%), bad weather (0.9%) and other factors like cattle, fallen trees, road blockage, non-functioning of signals, absence of rear reflectors/road signages etc.(6.8%).

The accident rate is internationally measured in terms of the no. of accidents per 1000 vehicles which has been steadily declining in our country, as can be seen from the table below:-

Accident remedial measures can be grouped to form DUVERT, namely (i) Driver related (ii) User related (iii) Vehicle related (iv) Environment related (v) Road related and (vi) Traffic related.

• Driver related accident reduction measures include sharpening of the driving skills by means of driver training, conducting proper driving tests, screening of accident-prone drivers, refresher courses etc.
• User related measures include imparting knowledge about rules of road use, traffic rule awareness, safe driving and legal aspects.
  
• Vehicle-based measures are introduction of greater safety measures in vehicles including efficient braking, glare free lights, proper and safergrip tyres, cushioned dash boards, seat belts, collapsible steering columns etc.
  
• Environment related measures include inculcation of a culture of safety environment.
  
• Road related measures are improvement of road geometrics, improvement for junctions, improvement of accident-prone locations/black spots, use of medians and traffic islands, properly
  planned zebra/pedestrian crossings, road signages, etc. The number of bicycles lanes and pedestrian parks on urban roads also needs to be maximized.
• Traffic related measures include speed control, entry restrictions, separate lane for bus and cycle, etc.

A series of measures have been taken to reduce the number of road accidents which could be classified into 3 categories i.e. (i) Engineering (ii) Enforcement and (iii) Educational :

Engineering: Specifications/designs are constantly under review by the Roads Wing of the Ministry. The States are constantly being advised accordingly.

Enforcement: This is being done by the State Governments under the provision of Motor Vehicles Act and Central Motor Vehicle Rules, 1989. The enforcement measures include inspections at the time of licensing/issue of permits and periodical fitness verification of vehicles for commercial use. It is being done by the Transport Department. In addition, checking of traffic violation and non-observance of road discipline is under the Police Departments of the State Governments.

Educational: Awareness is generated through various Road Safety Campaigns utilizing audio-visual and other print media and through NGOs. The Transport Wing of the Ministry has attached highest important and almost the entire amounts of plan allocations are towards this.

The Path Ahead

• Ensuring road infrastructure development for sustained economic development in all regions of the country, with a special attention to integrating backward regions and the North-East into the economic mainstream.
  
• Maintenance of roads to be given priority with increased emphasis on maintenance standards, so as to reduce need for frequent reconstruction.
  
• Association of private sector in development of road infrastructure and in provision of public transport services.
  
• Encourage higher capacity and better technology vehicles for movement of both passengers and goods, so that development of road transport operations keeps pace with development of high quality roads.
  
• Encourage the adoption of low tare weight multi-axle commercial goods vehicles to minimize damage to roads.
• Rationalize the motor vehicle tax regime across States.
• Implementation of those recommendations of Auto-Fuel Policy Committee (Mashelkar Committee) as accepted by the Govt., which pertain to road transport.
• Reduction of barriers including check posts, octroi, sales tax posts,etc. to allow freer movement of road transport.
• Discourage plying of overloaded trucks, which not only endanger road users but also damage road infrastructure.
• Adopt a multi-disciplinary approach covering engineering, education and enforcement of regulatory provision to reduce the increasing number of road accidents.
• Promote sustainable transport system with increased emphasis on safety, energy efficiency, environment conservation and positive social impact.

Source: Ministry of Shipping, Road Transport and Highways