The Gujarat government is likely to bar citizens from owning more than one vehicle at the same time as it pushes for modes of mass transportation and cut down road congestion. The state will either issue a notification or come up with a bill to this effect, said sources. Banning vehicles older than 15 years is also under consideration.
With worsening traffic in Ahmedabad prompting public interest litigations, the Gujarat High Court had earlier asked the police to carry out a "deep" study of the situation. According to the police, increasing number of vehicles were one of the main reasons for the traffic woes.
A senior government official said, "Reverse trend in the use of mass transportation service and people owning multiple vehicles is the major reason behind increasing traffic in cities. That is why the government is seriously thinking to bring this rule under implementation. Earlier too, this was under the consideration of government but that was put on back burner for some reasons but it is necessary now to resume the exercise."
"This is possible by amending the Gujarat Road Safety Authority Act-2018 or else the government can do it by issuing the notification under the article of 33 of the same act. The transport commissioner has recommended the government to do this as soon as possible," added the official.
One more rule that could be implemented soon is of prohibiting plying of vehicles older than 15 years. The transport commissioner has sought suggestions from the regional transport offices on the procedure of cancellation of registration of scrapped vehicles and need to improve the process.
"This rule is to control pollution as well as traffic issues. This rule is applicable in many other states like Delhi and we are seriously considering this too. The only confusion is, whether to bring all kinds of vehicles under this rule or transportation vehicles only," added an officer from transport department.
