The bill, likely to be introduced in Parliament in the next few days, proposes Rs 10,000 fine for drink driving & blocking way of emergency vehicles

The government is set to introduce changes in the Motor Vehicle Act to introduce stiffer penalties - including fine & jail-for traffic violators. The bill, likely to be introduced in Parliament in the next few days, proposes Rs 10,000 fine for drink driving & blocking way of emergency vehicles, including ambulance, fire brigade & PCRs among other things.

Though a section of road safety activists has been demanding some changes in the bill that was passed by the previous Lok Sabha & subsequently lapsed due to dissolution of the House, the government has gone ahead with the old version of the legislation. Some of the experts had suggested the government to roll back provisions on transport-related issues & focus only on safety.

"There is no change in the bill except some grammatical corrections. It was examined by the Select Committee & was also passed in Lok Sabha. Since every lapsed bill must be approved afresh by the cabinet, so the procedure has been followed," said a source.The bill provides for a uniform driving licence & vehicle registration processes across states by setting up online national registers. Similarly, there is a provision for holding guardians or owners of vehicles guilty for offences committed by juvenile drivers & cancelling registration of the vehicle used by them . It also proposes giving compensation of up to Rs 10 lakh in case of hit-and-run cases.

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