Smart-card licenses by March 2008

NEW DELHI, INDIA: The Indian government would soon roll out smart-card licenses across the country by March 2008. Apart from introducing an intelligent transport system, the government is also planning an online link between all the Regional Transport Offices (RTOs).

According to the ministry of shipping, road transport and highways, the government would issue smart cards for driving licenses and registration certificates for vehicles. The government is also targeting to electronically link RTOs of the states by March, 2008.

The rules for issuing smart card based driving licenses (DL) and registration certificates (RC) have already been notified.

The decision follows the recommendations submitted by a high-level committee formulated for a National Road Transport Policy. The committee had also given suggestions for giving direction for improvement of road transport as well as road sector. The report is now under consideration of the union government.

As per information available, 25 states have already implemented the pilot projects in Vahan (registration certificate) and 21 states have implemented the pilot projects in Sarathi (driving licenses).

The state governments are in the process of implementing the same. So far, issuance of smart card based registration certificate has commenced in four states - Delhi, West Bengal, Jharkhand and Tripura and that of driving licenses in three states - West Bengal, Jharkhand and Maharashtra.

Taking note of the rising number of road accidents in the country, the government intends to introduce IT-based intelligent transport system (ITS) across the country.

As per the latest available data, the total number of accidents is 440,000. About 95,000 persons were killed in 2005.

“The government had set up a committee on road safety issues which has recommended creation of a dedicated body on road safety and traffic management, incorporating intelligent transport management systems. The committee’s report is presently under consideration of the government,” ministry officials said.

“The proposed ITS will be an efficient system for traffic management. It will involve coordination between multiple agencies, which will also defining the roles of the stakeholders. ITM will also see scientific investigation of fatal accidents to find out their real cause for taking corrective measures to arrest recurrences of such incidents; and involvement and participation of public in enhancement of road safety, besides generating awareness,” officials said.

According to the Sundar Committee Report on Road Safety and Traffic Management, ITS can be used for automation of the commercial and regulatory documentation that has to accompany commercial vehicles and goods thereby substantially reducing the detention at check post.

“ITS can also be used for electronic payment of various charges without stopping the vehicle en-route. Similar solution for many other causes of detention may be found through ITS,” the committee had said.

The government feels that ITS can increase the efficiency of existing transportation infrastructure. This is especially important where physical constraints preclude expansion of road network.

“ITS holds the promise of substantially increasing the capacity of existing infrastructure, thus avoiding the cost of new construction and freeing funds for use for other pressing developmental needs. The main information resources of the ITS include real time traffic flow management, parking availability, vehicular traffic, and a basic geographic information system. ITS can also be harnessed to monitor, respond and to evaluate continually the effectiveness of the transportation management system to provide optimal traffic flows at all times,” Sundar Committee had recommended.

The committee observed that cargo that uses more than one mode, sea-to-road or rail-to-road for example spends a lot of time stationary in depots or warehouses or at border checkpoints. Using vehicle “ITS technologies in transport systems combined with electronic tagging and documentation, can greatly reduce waiting/transit times. Studies have shown that congestion on roads lead to increased emissions and fuel consumption. According to studies, ITS can reduce journey time and thereby facilitate savings. Applications like electronic toll collection that facilitate Automatic, contact less collection of tolls using surveillance methods and vehicle guidance and automated operations can contribute significantly to reducing delays,” it said.

The committee also opined that in bigger cities, available technology could improve traffic management. “Traffic signaling coordination can increase effective road capacity and increase speeds to levels at which emissions per vehicle mile are much lower. Traffic management can also protect environmentally sensitive areas or road user categories from vehicular traffic. Developments in electronics have reduced both initial equipment cost and maintenance needs,” the committee said in its recommendations.

The IT measures in the Road and Surface transport ministry comes in the wake of the CAG assessment of Information Technology under COBIT framework in National Highways Authority of India. The assessment found the absence of a structured information technology plan in NHAI which resulted in a non coordinated approach in development and implementation of systems most suitable to its business needs. The systems were developed for the purpose of monitoring and evaluation on an on going basis, in accordance with the indicators satisfactory to the World Bank and not borne out of any cost benefit analysis undertaken by the Authority. In one case, where the preparation of Information Technology package was half way through, the Authority realized that the information was to be hosted on servers located in a foreign country and consequently the idea of developing the information solution had to be abandoned resulting in wasteful expenditure of Rs.5.07 crore up to December 2005. (Para 27.1 of Audit Report No.12 of 2006)