Website morth.nic.in | Formed July 1942 | |
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Annual budget ₹64,900 crore (US$9.6 billion) (2017–18 est.) Ministers responsible Nitin Gadkari, Minister of TransportPon Radhakrishnan, Minister of State for TransportMansukh L. Mandaviya, Minister of State for Transport Child agencies Roads WingTransport Wing Minister of state Pon Radhakrishnan, Mansukh L. Mandaviya Profiles | ||
Achievements of ministry of road transport and highways
The Ministry of Road Transport and Highways, a ministry of the Government of India, is the apex body for formulation and administration of the rules, regulations and laws relating to road transport, and transport research, in order to increase the mobility and efficiency of the road transport system in India. Road transport is a critical infrastructure for economic development of the country. It influences the pace, structure and pattern of development. In India, roads are used to transport over 60% of the total goods and 85% of the passenger traffic. Hence, development of this sector is of paramount importance for the India and accounts for a significant part in the budget. Since May 2014, the Minister for Road Transport and Highways is Nitin Gadkari.
Contents
- Achievements of ministry of road transport and highways
- Creation
- Functions
- Changes made over years
- Organisational Setup
- Agencies
- Regional Offices
- Roads Wing
- Transport Wing
- Acts
- Statistics
- Government Initiatives
- References
Creation
The Department of War Transport was formed in July, 1942, by the bifurcation of the then Department Of Communications into two Departments:
(i) Department of Posts
(ii) Department of War Transport.
Functions
The functions allocated to the Department of War Transport include Major Ports, Railways Priorities, utilization of road and water transport, Petrol rationing and Producer Gas. Broadly speaking, the functions of the War Transport Department were to coordinate the demands for transport in war time, Coastal Shipping and the administration and development of major ports. Later, the planning of export was undertaken as a corollary to the Departments control of transport priorities also.
Changes made over years
There are two departments under it:
Organisational Setup
Following are the autonomous agencies,subordinate offices regional offices under the Director General.
Agencies
Regional Offices
The ministry has two wings functioning under it:
Roads Wing
Main responsibilities of the roads wing are:
Transport Wing
Main responsibilities of the transport wing are:
Acts
Over years the ministry has passed several acts to maintain law and order in Road Transport in the country
Statistics
India has one of the largest road networks of over 4.885 million km consisting of :
The total road length of India had grown more than 11 times in 60 years from 1951–2011 also the length of the surfaced roads ha increased about 16 times over the same period.The connectivity in India has tremendously improved due to formation of new surface roads.
For development of roads in the country the government has made an allocation of ₹19,423.88 crores under the Central Road Fund for 2013–2014 with the following breakup:
Government Initiatives
The government has provided various incentives for private and foreign sector investments in the roads sector. 100% FDI is allowed in the sectors of land transport to promote building of highway bridges, toll roads, and vehicular tunnels; services incidental to transport such as cargo handling is incidental to land transport; construction and maintenance of roads, bridges; and construction and maintenance of roads and highways offered on build-operate-transfer (BOT) basis, including collection of toll.
A 10-year tax exemption under Section 80 IA has been granted to the Highway building projects to attract private investors.The ministry has also framed a ‘Special Accelerated Road Development Programme in North Eastern Region' for improving road connectivity to remote places in this region. The estimated cost of the proposal is USD 2.53 billion. The Union Budget 2012–13 proposed an increase of allocation of the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways by 14% to ₹25,360 crore (US$3.8 billion).
The World Bank has approved a USD 975 million loan for developing the first phase of the eastern arm of the USD 17.21 billion Dedicated Freight Corridor Project in India. The Dedicated Freight Corridor Corporation of India Ltd. has tied up with the Japanese Bank of Industrial Cooperation for USD 14.56 billion funding as loan for the first phase and it is likely to be commissioned in 2016.
The Prime Minister Gram Sadak Yojana (PMGSY) is a scheme for development of rural roads in India. The Construction of Rural Roads Project (CRRP) is another initiative focused on rural development.