To ensure safety of the passengers in the State roadways, Haryana Chief Minister Manohar lal on Friday directed that a refresher course of five to seven days in first aid should be conducted for all the drivers and conductors of Haryana Roadways.
This will enable them to provide first aid facilities to the passengers in the moving bus in case of an emergency, said the Chief Minister while presiding over a meeting to review the functioning of Transport, Housing and Jails Departments here.
He also asked the Transport Department to make a mechanism to ensure that a student should at least have learner’s driving licence when he graduates.
Apart from this, he directed to set up bus stops in front of all the new education institutes to facilitate the students.
With a view to provide better transport facility to the girls studying in colleges in the state, Manohar lal directed the Department to seek the requirement of special buses for girl students from Higher Education and Technical Education Departments.
The Chief Minister said that provision of safe and convenient transport facility for girls studying in colleges is one of the priorities of the State government.
At present, 86 such buses are plying in the different districts of the state and this bus service would be further expanded wherever required, he added.
While reviewing the menace of oversized and overloaded vehicles plying in the state, the Chief Minister directed the Department to challan such vehicles registered in other states and passing through Haryana, so as to keep a check on the movement of these vehicles.
He also directed that the number of Haryana Roadways buses plying on Metro routes in Gurgaon be increased from 29 to 50 to beef up the transport service.
During the meeting, it was informed that the Department has planned to increase its fleet to 5,000 buses with plans to purchase 995 new buses during the financial year 2016-17.
Apart from this, the recruitment process of filling up 1,495 vacant posts of heavy vehicle drivers on outsourcing policy and 930 vacant posts of conductors on regular basis has been initiated. Also, the recruitment process of filling up the vacant posts of 636 helpers and 272 storemen on regular basis has been started.
Besides, the installation of CCTV cameras in 300 buses of Faridabad, Gurgaon, Chandigarh, Sonipat and Panipat has been taken up as pilot project. On the success of this initiative, cameras would also be installed in the remaining buses of Haryana Roadways.
While reviewing the functioning of Housing Board, the Chief Minister directed the officers concerned to enhance the scope of providing houses as the State government has fixed a target to provide two lakh affordable houses to people by 2019.
He also asked them to take up the issue of construction plan or drawings with Haryana Urban Development Authority so that the same could be approved at the earliest.
Minister Krishan lal Panwar informed the Chief Minister that Housing Board has allotted 4,843 houses up to September 2016 and allotment of 2,789 houses is under process. These would be allotted by the end of this year.
Apart from this, construction of 13,115 houses is in progress in districts Panchkula, Karnal, Faridabad, Gurgaon, Rohtak and Sonepat, he added.
later, the Chief Minster also reviewed the functioning of Jail Department and directed the officers to prepare Aadhaar cards of all the jail inmates and ensure their seeding.
He also suggested that a scheme should be prepared for their rehabilitation after they are released from the jails so as to bring them into the mainstream.