NEW DELHI: An united opposition, which has moved more than a dozen amendments to the Motor Vehicles Amendment Bill, forced the government to defer the discussion and passage of the bill till Monday. Union road transport minister Nitin Gadkari will hold consultations with the opposition parties over the next couple of days to allay their concerns, the Rajya Sabha was told on Tuesday.

The proposed amendments by the members from political parties including DMK, AIADMK, Congress, Trinamool Congress, CPM and Samajwadi Party primarily focusses on doing away with the provision for registration of vehicles at dealers’ end, retaining the power of regional transport offices (RTOs), no role of central government in making the National Transport Policy and retaining exclusive rights of the State Road Transport Corporations (SRTCs) rather than relaxing norms to bring greater competition in bus service.

During a meeting with opposition leaders on Tuesday, Gadkari reportedly said, “This is a bill not in BJP or government’s interest. It’s in the interest of public” as he sought the support of parties to resolve the issues through talks. The bill was referred to standing committee and then the select committee before it was re-introduced on Monday.

Interestingly, while majority of the amendments moved by the DMK focuses on retaining the focus on SRTCs, it’s arch rival AIADMK has moved amendments for retaining the authority of RTOs so far as registration of vehicles is concerned.

Trinamool Congress has moved amendments to ensure that the Centre does not take charge of transport and road safety at any stage by bringing the new law. The SP has proposed reducing fines claiming that the proposed penalties are too high for many drivers.

TOI has learnt that the proposal for liberalising the permit system for public transport has been introduced considering that while as per global norms there should be four buses for 1,000 people there is only one bus for 1,000 in India. The share of SRTC buses is only 0.1 per 1,000 people.

Sources said Gadkari would clear misunderstandings of political parties so far as the charges of Centre stepping into their rights is concerned.

TMC leader Derek O’Brien told Rajya Sabha, “The informal agreement (with the minister) which we are sharing with you here is that this bill will only be brought up on Monday again. We agreed on that because we want to find a solution. Not before Monday.”

