The Madhya Pradesh Assembly on Monday passed by voice vote the Madhya Pradesh Motor Vehicle Taxation (Amendment) Bill, 2015, which aims at enhancing the penalty by four times in order to prevent illegal transportation.
Replying to a debate on the amendments, Transport Minister Bhoopendra Singh said the penalty amount would be enhanced by four times in cases where vehicles are being driven without permit or fitness certificate.
Permits would not be issued to vehicles that are over 15 years old. Global Positioning System (GPS) would be installed in buses to ascertain whether buses that are issued permits are being actually used for transportation in order to prevent overloading, he said.
Singh said bus stands across the state would be developed on public private partnership model in order to ensure availability of basic facilities. Driving licenses would be issued free of cost for women. About 3,000 new centers would be set up for issuing PUC (Pollution Under Control) certificates.
Deputy leader of the Opposition Bala Bachchan, Congress members Govind Singh, Ramniwas Rawat and Mukesh Naik took part in the debate.
Meanwhile, the House began discussion on the annual report of the Madhya Pradesh Electricity Regulatory Commission (MPERC) for the financial year 2013-14. Congress member Mukesh Naik, who initiated the discussion, said the MPERC has become irrelevant as it furthered the interests of electricity companies by allowing tariff hikes instead of acting as bridge between power consumers and electricity companies. The discussion would continue on Tuesday.