In a major boost to road infrastructure, communication industry and health sector, the Centre on Friday announced major policies which include laying of optical fibre cables along the National Highways and using the ports space for hospitals and medical institutions.
Road and Transport Minister Nitin Gadkari said information technology holds the key to providing transparent and effective governance in the country and thus around two lakh kilometres stretch of highways can be used for laying optic fibres and oil and gas pipes.
Gadkari also mentioned that if port hospitals can be upgraded under PPP mode and if medical colleges and PG courses can be started in them, it will create educational and employment opportunities for the local youth.
"Besides enhancing IT this could also earn the Ministry some revenue that can be further utilised for constructing and maintaining roads," said Gadkari speaking at INFOCOM 2017. Speaking about the road transport sector Gadkari said that very soon the issue of driving licences will be entirely computerised .
"The fitness of a person for issue driving licence will be decided through a computer programme with no human interference. This will greatly enhance safety on roads by ensuring that licences are issued only to deserving drivers," he said.
Gadkari further said that E-tolling rolled out by his Ministry last year has helped cut down the traffic congestion at toll plazas on the National Highways. Besides easing congestion, e-tolling will also help reduce pollution and prevent unnecessary wastage of fuel - both corollaries of the long wait at toll plazas.
Gadkari vouched to upgrade the health facility and said at a time when India is battling with shortage of nine lakh doctors, converting hospitals at major ports into medical colleges can not only cater to healthcare needs of people but also fill the void of specialists.
A high-level committee, constituted to study port hospitals and suggest the model of their development, has recommended converting these hospitals into medical colleges or speciality centres on PPP basis. "There is a shortage of nine lakh doctors in the country. To leverage the ports healthcare infrastructure optimally, we have proposed to develop our port hospitals on PPP mode," Gadkari said after a presentation by the committee.
India has 12 major ports -- Kandla, Mumbai, JNPT, Mormugao, New Mangalore, Kochi, Chennai, Ennore, V O Chidambaranar, Visakhapatnam, Paradip and Kolkata (including Haldia), which handle approximately 61 per cent of the country's total cargo traffic.