The bill has also proposed a fine of Rs 5 lakh per vehicle as well as imprisonment for faulty manufacturing design. (Photo: PTI)

New Delhi: Three months after Union minister Gopinath Munde died in a road accident, the government on Saturday unveiled a draft amendment to the Motor Vehicles Act, which has proposed steep fines running into lakhs of rupees for various offences.

While proposing to set up a National Safety Authority, the draft bills proposes a fine of Rs 3 lakh, along with a minimum seven-year imprisonment, for the death of a child in a road accident.

Proposing to make driving under the influence of liquor a costly affair, the draft bill has proposed a Rs 25,000 fine or a jail term of three months or both and six months of licence suspension for the first offence. If the offence is repeated within three years, the offender will have to pay a fine of Rs 50,000 or face imprisonment for up to one year or both and a one-year licence suspension.

A third offence will result in cancellation of the licence and impounding of the vehicle for up to 30 days. If a school bus driver is caught driving drunk, he will be fined Rs 50,000, along with imprisonment for three years. And if such drivers are in the age group of 18 to 25 years, there will be “immediate cancellation” of the licence.

The government has uploaded the draft bill on the amendment to the Motor Vehicles Act on the website of the ministry of surface transport to elicit the views of people before it’s brought to Parliament during the Winter Session.

Additionally, the bill has also proposed a fine of Rs 5 lakh per vehicle as well as imprisonment for faulty manufacturing design. It has also proposed a penalty of up to Rs 1 lakh or imprisonment for six months, which may extend to one year, or both in case of using a vehicle in unsafe conditions. The bill has proposed a grading point system for imposing fines.

The government has said that the aim of the bill is to bring down fatalities in road accidents by two lakh in the first five years, while claiming that there will be a "four per cent GDP improvement on account of increased efficiency and safety of road transport".