By IANS
Bhopal : Top transport authorities in Madhya Pradesh have been asked to explain steps taken by them to ensure compliance of the rules necessary for procuring driving licences, official sources said.
Holding licensing authorities responsible for the rising death toll due to road accidents, Madhya Pradesh Human Rights Commission (MPHRC) Wednesday evening summoned the principal secretary (transport), the transport commissioner, regional transport officer Bhopal and additional director general (traffic).
The officials have to appear before it Mar 26 to explain the steps taken by them to ensure that the driving licences are provided only after a person is found to be fit and aware of driving rules.
The commission feels that providing driving licences to ineligible and untrained persons is the main reason for the increasing number of road accidents, the official said.
The Commission took note of a report on ‘Role of middlemen at the RTO in getting works done for a premium’ in a local daily last year and strongly felt that untrained and incompetent drivers were responsible for number of road accidents increasing by the day.
A recently published report of the Transport Research Wing said that of 439,255 road accidents in the country, eight percent (35,123) occurred in Madhya Pradesh. Of the 94,968 fatal accidents, 5,327 took place in the state.