[ 1075 ]
GOVERNMENT OF PUDUCHERRY
TRANSPORT SECRETARIAT
(G.O. Ms. No. 7/Tr. Sectt./2017, Puducherry, dated 2nd August 2017)
NOTIFICATION
The Lieutenant-Governor, Puducherry is pleased to approve the
proposal for formulation of Transport Policy for implementation in
the Union territory of Puducherry as detailed in the Annexure
appended herewith.
2. This notification shall come into force with immediate effect.
(By order of the Lieutenant-Governor)
CHAURE RATNAGHOSH KISHOR,
Under Secretary to Government (Transport).
Registered with the Registrar
of Newspapers for India under
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La Gazette de L' État de Poudouchéry
The Gazette of Puducherry
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2017 } | 9 {
No. 52
Poudouchéry
Mercredi
9
Août
2017
No.
Puducherry
Wednesday
9th
August
2017
( 18 Sravana 1939 )
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[PART–II
ANNEXURE
TRANSPORT POLICY
FOR THE UNION TERRITORY OF PUDUCHERRY
Introduction:
The erstwhile Administration of the territory of French
establishments in India taken over by the Government of India in
terms of the De-Facto Agreement, dated 21st October 1954, signed
between the Government of India and the Government of France
became as “Union territory of Puducherry”. Accordingly, the Union
territory of Puducherry is administered under the provisions of
Government of Union Territories Act, 1963 (No. 20 of 1963).
The Union territory of Puducherry consists of 4 regions viz.,
Puducherry including the outlying regions of Karaikal, Mahe and
Yanam, lying geographically separated from one another. The
Puducherry region which is on the South East Coast is about 160 kms.
South of Chennai is the Capital of the Union territory of Puducherry,
consists of 12 scattered areas interspersed as enclaves within
Villupuram and Cuddalore Districts of Tamil Nadu State.
The Karaikal region which is about 160 kms. South of Puducherry,
is surrounded by the Nagapattinam District of Tamil Nadu. The Yanam
region is located about 840 kms. North East of Puducherry near
Kakinada in Andhra Pradesh. The Mahe region lies almost parallel to
Puducherry 650 kms away on the Western Side near Tellicherry in
Kerala State.
The Union territory of Puducherry is 490 sq. kms. in area with a
population of 12.48 lakhs as per the 2011 Census. The Region-wise
break up of population is as follows:
Region
Area
Population
Literates
(sq. kms.)
Urban
Rural
Total
(1)
(2)
(3)
(4)
(5)
(6)
Puducherry
294
6,57,209
2,93,080
9,50,289
7,26,649
(69.16%)
(30.8%)
(76.47%)
Karaikal
157
98,102
1,02,120
2,00,222
1,54,916
(49.0%)
(51.0%)
(77.37%)
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Mahe
9
41,816
–
41,816
36,470
(100%)
(87.22%)
Yanam
30
55,626
–
55,626
39,274
(100%)
(70.60%)
Total
490
8,52,753
3,95,200 12,47,953
9,57,309
(68.33%) (31.67%)
(76.71%)
The Union territory of Puducherry which is highly urbanized
with an Urban Population of 68.33%, is the third most densely
populated State/Union Territory in India, with a per-capita income of
` 1,75,006 as per the 2014-15 Advance Estimates. The present
economy of the Union territory of Puducherry thrives on Secondary
and Tertiary Sector.
The Union territory of Puducherry has a road network of
2,860 kms. of which 65 kms are National Highways, 85 kms. are State
Highways, 39 kms. are Major Roads, 288 kms. are other district roads,
254 kms are rural roads. The road network within the custody of Local
Bodies are 2,150 kms.
The Union territory of Puducherry has a rail network of 22 kms.
belonging to Southern Railways. The Puducherry, Karaikal and Mahe
regions are served by the Southern Railways. The Yanam region has
no direct rail connectively, though it can be accesses from Kakinada
served by South Eastern Railways. The Union Territory has 9.87 lakh
Registered Motor Vehicles as on 31st March, 2017.
The Union territory of Puducherry has one minor Airport and
minor Port at Puducherry and a Private Port at Karaikal.
2. Necessity for Transport Policy.— Transport plays an important
role in the economic development of any region. Economic growth
resulting in any higher incomes and rising living standards is
expected to create greater demand for travel for both work and
non-work/leisure purposes. This in turn can create congestion and
reliability problems on the transport network, increasing costs on
business and damaging quality of life and therefore, interventions
are required to break this vicious circle.
(1)
(2)
(3)
(4)
(5)
(6)
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The Union territory of Puducherry because of its high
urbanization and historical importance attached to its evolution,
attract more travel demands but, lacks co-ordinated supply of transport
infrastructure to satisfy the accessibility and mobility requirements
for passenger and goods travel. Transport supply is mostly dependent
on the road transport system with very meagre contribution from
other sectors such as Railways, Airways and Waterways.
The socio-economic sustainable development of this region requires
a cohesive policy to guide and synchronise the transportation
planning and development of the region. The projects related to
transport sector are carried out in piecemeal nature and lack holistic
approach to ensure the symbiotic growth of all transport modes.
Hence, an Integrated Multi Modal “Transport Policy” is necessitated
to build efficient and sustainable Multi Modal Transport System in
the Union territory of Puducherry.
3. Challenges Faced.— The Union territory of Puducherry faces
the following challenges which need to be addressed for its sustainable
economic growth:–
(i) Transport Infrastructural capacity is inadequate to meet
the future travel demands, which will increase the cost of transportation
for passengers and goods and endanger the economic growth potential;
(ii) Efficiency of logistic services is hampered by lack of suitable
multi modal facilities and competent service providers endangering
the envisaged economic diversification and consequent sustainability
of the economic growth potential;
(iii) Increasing urbanization will significantly further pressurize
the urban mobility system endangering the urban competitiveness;
(iv) The role of public transport system has to be strengthened
and developed for the affordable and accessibility needs of the bulk of
the population and support the opportunities for individual development
and consequent economic growth;
(v) The increasing demand for mobility driven by the envisaged
population growth and economic growth is likely to impact the safety
of the transport system significantly i.e., the more users, the higher
the likelyhood of accidents and fatalities, which endangers the quality
of life;
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(vi) The increasing demands for mobility is also likely to impact
the environment significantly through emissions endangering the quality
of life;
(vii) Due to high density of the urban population, the land
acquisition poses a crucial problem for the development of transport
system. Hence, a long-term action plan for identifying priority transport
development schemes and projects to ensure adequate Right of Way
(RoW) and financial resources for timely implementing these transport
projects needs to be prepared;
(viii) Fiscal constraints have reduced infrastructure spending
and for updation of transport system, necessary measures to mobilize
the public finances and increase alternative financing sources for the
sustainable development of the transport system is necessary.
4. Vision Statement.— The vision of the Government of
Puducherry in the Transport Sector is to “Shape a modern, efficient,
economical and safe transportation system that balance the needs of
the economy, society and the environment and to meet the mobility
needs of all sectors of the people by 2036”.
5. Objectives.— The Transport System of Union territory of
Puducherry will be designed, developed and managed to fulfill the above
stated Vision Statement for fulfilling the following objectives:
(a) Support economic growth : In the Union territory of
Puducherry, the road transport is by far the dominant mode for transport
but, public transport plays a marginal role wherein movement through
rail, air and water are very meager. The ultimate aim this policy objective
is to promote a shift of demand from road transport to public and rail
transport for de-congesting the road networks and stimulate economic
growth. The transport infrastructure will be expanded to accommodate
demand by ensuring adequate Level of Service (LoS).
(b) Stimulate economic diversification : Due to growing
urbanization with limited geography, the thrust of the Government is
already towards secondary and tertiary sector of the economy. In order
to stimulate the economic diversification, it is essential to improve in
the most cost effective manner by improving the efficiency and quality
of transport. The Government of Puducherry would facilitate trade by
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removing capacity constraints, streamlining the border crossing
procedure and developing necessary logistics infrastructure and supply
chain management.
(c) Maintain urban competitiveness : One of the factors that
will be critical in determining the success in transitioning to an industry
and service based economy will be the extent to which its cities are an
attractive place for business to locate and equally important for the
employees of these business to live in. One important factor in the
making of this choice is the quality of the transport system serving the
cities. Thus, improving the Transport system in the urban region is going
to be an important factor in the future economic growth of Union territory
of Puducherry.
(d) Support Social inclusion : The Public Transport System
which plays a key role in supporting social inclusion, requires more
improvement in terms of coverage, performance and capacity in this
Administration. If, minimum acceptable waiting time for access to the
Public Transport System and the coverage of the system is improved in
an attractive manner, people will have cost effective choices in selecting
their mode of travel.
(e) Protect people : A “Safe Transport System” as per the Road
Safety Policy of the Government will be established and actions will be
taken to prevent accidents and minimize the number of potential victims
and destruction of property to ensure the productivity of the citizens.
(f) Protect environment : Globally the debate on climate
change is raging and societies are aiming at reducing the level of
emission as well as abating its consequences. The Government of
Puducherry will attend to reduce the effects of emissions of green house
gases caused by the transport of goods and peoples.
(g) Ensure sustainable spending : The World Bank study
suggests that in order to have a sustainable economic growth of 7.5 %,
the investment required for infrastructure development is 7.5% of the
GDP, of which 2.5% is to be towards the Road Sector. The Government
of Puducherry will ensure that decision on investment and expenditure
are financially sustainable and that use of alternative financing sources
is optimized and ensure an annual infrastructure spending of 2.5% of
GDP whether publicly or practically funded on improving the transport
system of the territory.
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6. Strategies.— The strategy for achieving the above objective
would be to promote quality infrastructure support for improving the
connectivity and transportation of humans and goods to sustain high
growth rate of GDP, to develop integrated and multi-modal transport
system with emphasis on mass rapid transport such as railways, to
promote public transport and requisite quality of service to discourage
personalized transport, to promote quality and productivity of goods
transportation and infrastructure, to ensure availability of adequate
trained manpower, promote road safety, traffic management and
post-accident trauma care, to promote sustainable road transport with
special emphasis on energy efficiency, environmental conservation and
least negative social impact, to promote increasing use of modern
technology and research/scientific studies in transport development; and
to strengthen the database collection and management system to assist
in continued policy and performance evaluation.
7. Sub-sector policies.— The sub-sector wise broad policy
objectives and strategies to meet the desired Vision Statement are
described as under:–
7.1 Roads : The Puducherry region is served by NH45A and
NH66. The Karaikal region is served by NH45A. The Mahe region is
served by NH17 and the Yanam region is served by NH21A. The total
length of National Highways is only 65Kms. out of a total road network
of 2,860 kms. The volume by capacity ratio of all roads are reaching the
saturation level due to heavy urbanisation. Almost 90% of the road
network have a Right of Way of less than 20.0 mts.
7.1.1 Objectives : (i) The highways, intra-city and inter-city
road network will be developed to National Standards with all
modern facilities to provide faster connectivity to growth and
activity centres in the State.
(ii) To ensure proper upkeep of precious road asset and reduce
accident risk.
7.1.2 Strategies : (i) Lack of adequate Right of Way (RoW)
is the major reason for the tardy development of roads in the State.
The Government will initiate advance and long-term master plans
and action plans for identifying the road network system
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LA GAZETTE DE L'ETAT
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development at regional level and acquire the required Right of
Way (RoW) in different areas after considering all aspects of
existing and proposed land uses in these regions.
(ii) In order to ensure availability of adequate Right of Way for
future road development, the Government will freeze construction
activities along the proposed road alignment selected for
improvement at the existing level. Necessary legal framework will
be effected for this purpose immediately.
(iii) The Government will take steps for construction of elevated
corridors if sufficient land is not available. Necessary fly overs/
under passes, clover leaf interchanges, bypasses and elevated
lanes at vantage locations will be constructed.
(iv) The roads will be developed with equitable allocation of
road space. Urban arterial roads will be widened to four lane divided
carriageway with provision for median, cycle track, footpath and
green cover. Sub-arterial road will have minimum 2-lane carriageway
and local roads will have minimum intermediate lane carriageway.
Integrated network for pedestrians and non-motorized traffic will
be established.
(v) The Government will participate in the central road
construction programmes under Central Road Fund (CRF), Pradhan
Mantri Gram Sadak Yojana (PMGSY), Smart City/Atal Mission for
Rejuvenation and Urban Transformation (AMRUT), Economic and
Interstate connectivity schemes, etc., in a big way without causing
delay in project implementation.
7.2 Road maintenance :
7.2.1 Objectives :
(i) The condition of the road affects the vehicle operation
cost which is an important component of the road
transport cost. If, timely maintenance is not carried out,
the asset will deteriorate over the period and render
service less.
7.2.2 Strategies :
(i) The Government will give top priority to maintain the
precious road assets and norms for maintenance of all
categories of roads to keep them in good level of service
will be notified.
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(ii) The Government will introduce Pavement Management
System (PMS) and Bridge Management System (BMS),
mechanization in maintenance, maintenance by contract
and corridor management approach for maintenance of
arterial and sub-arterial roads under Public Works
Department.
(iii) The Government will encourage construction of rigid
pavement on areas prone to flood and high traffic intensity
so as to minimize recurring maintenance cost and obstruction
to traffic movement while repairs;
(iv) The Government will encourage transferring the
responsibility of maintenance of local roads with the
people who live on the street or other registered agencies
who have interests to put up hoardings/advertisement, etc.,
7.3 Public Transport : It is a well known fact that public
transport occupies less road space and cause less pollution per
passenger km. than personal vehicles. As such, public transport
is a more sustainable form of transport. The changing composition
of vehicle population over time reflects in increasing importance
of personalized mode (Cars-two wheelers) of transport vis-a-vis
public bus road transport mode. While the motorized vehicle
population grew at a Compound Annual Growth Rate (CAGR) of
close to 35% in the Union territory of Puducherry, the growth of
public transport vehicles is very meager. Only 0.38 buses are
available per 1,000 population.
7.3.1 Objectives:
(i) To revamp public transportation system to increase its
share from existing 20% of total passenger traffic to 50%
in 2036.
(ii) Reduce dependency on personal transport and increase
the share of railways in inter-state and inter-city transport
and that of buses in intra-state and intra-city transport.
7.3.2 Strategies:
(i) The Government will encourage rail based public transport
system for inter-city travel which is cost effective and
environment friendly. In order to strike the appropriate
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modal balance between public transport and personalized
transport, public transport system that is used by common
mass will get maximum attention of the Government.
(ii) Encouragement will be given for investment in rail-based
urban transport systems in congested inter/intra city
routes and introduce High-speed intercity passenger rail
service and sub-urban rail system on main line routes.
(iii) Even after construction of rail based Mass Rapid Transit
system, the bus transport system will continue to play the
role of main mass transport system provider for intra-city
routes covering urban core and rural areas in the state.
Government will ensure availability of all category of buses
on all intra-city and rural routes at convenient schedules
to the public.
(iv) The Government will encourage public sector bus
transport service provider i.e., the proposed Puducherry
Urban Transport Agency (PUTA) and Puducherry Road
Transport Corporation (PRTC) with more autonomy to
enhance efficiency in operation, management of the
system, passenger information system, rationalization of
routes and initiating other innovative operational methods
to improve its financial viability.
(v) The operational structure of the public and the private
stage carriages system will be further streamlined to attract
commuters towards public transport. The Government will
encourage introduction of new generation cleaner energy
buses to reduce pollution level. The share of public
transport buses in the total stage carriage services will be
increased from the present 20% to 50% by 2036.
(vi) Public transport will get preferential treatment in the tax
structure as compared to personalized transport.
7.4 Urban Transport : About 70% of the people live in urban
area and the divide between urban and rural is getting marginalised
due to economic development. Due to lack in proper coverage of
public transport services and lack of reliability and connectivity,
the personalized transport demand is ever increasing in urban
areas.
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The narrow urban arterial and sub-arterial roads are flooded with
all type of vehicles ranging from buses, trucks, two-wheelers, cars
and cycles and the average speed of traffic flow is less than
20 kmph. The buses on these roads are forced to crawl behind auto
rikshaws, cycles or any other slow vehicles due to absence of
adequate Right of Way. This is affecting the economic performance
of the intra-city bus transport and the commuters gradually lose
confidence in the public transport system and choose alternative
costly and unhealthy modes such as parallel services of autos and
two wheeler, etc.,
7.4.1 Objectives :
(i) The Government will take steps to discourage the tendency
among people to adapt to personal vehicles and instead
encourage mass transport facilities in urban areas.
7.4.2 Strategies :
(i) Construction of cost effective mass transport systems will
get priority in congested city routes. Even if the projects
do not turn out financially viable in the short run, the
Government will provide annuity to bridge the short-term
gaps in revenue.
(ii) Even after providing mass transport services the demand
for personal transport will be very high in urban regions
due to high per capita trip rate and less per capita trip
length. The urban transport infrastructure will be planned
to meet the long-term projected demand of the commuters
and other sections of the society.
(iii) Appropriate action will be taken to widen the existing
arterial and sub-arterial roads with provision for pedestrian
walking and crossing facilities, cycle tracks and off street
parking.
(iv) The existing road intersections will be redesigned to enable
them to cater to the projected demand. Grade separated
fly-overs/under passes will be constructed at all major road
intersections which carry more than 8,000 vehicles per hour.
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(v) A network of ring and radial roads, bypasses, link roads,
fly-overs, multi level off-street parking facilities, pedestrial
crossing facilities, etc., will be constructed in cities and
towns to relieve traffic congestion around Central Business
District (CBD) areas.
7.5 Intermediate Public Transport: Intermediate Public
Transport (Para transit) is normally expected to fulfil a need that
neither public transport or personal vehicles are able to fulfil. They
normally should cater to a category of occasional trips and last
mile connectivity trips. But, in Puducherry, the para transit is
playing a competitive role with public transport system.
7.5.1 Objectives:
Intermediate Public Transport (IPT) modes such as Taxis,
Auto rickshaws, share autos, mini-bus/tempo services,
etc., will continue to play an important role even in future
as feeder services to the main mass transport system and
providing accessible movement in pre-designated areas.
Their operation will be strengthened by proper regulation
and discipline.
7.5.2 Strategies:
(i) The Government will encourage introduction of specially
designed IPT vehicles such as e-rickshaw for improving
road safety and emission levels.
(ii) The Government will encourage shared taxis, motor cycle
taxis and other non-motorized vehicles to be used as IPT
fleet at selected feeder locations.
7.6 Parking: Land is a valuable economic commodity and
parking places occupy large portions of urban land. Due to urban
developments, mixed land uses, the demand for on street parking
space is growing and almost 40% of the road space is not available
for the traffic. Roadside on street parking takes away much
precious road space meant for traffic. Such parking also
contributes to accidents and blocking of pedestrian walkways.
7.6.1 Objectives:
Encourage measures that allocate road space on a more
equitable basis for road traffic rather than dead usage of
valuable road space for parking purpose.
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7.6.2 Strategies:
(i) Building permits will be issued only after ensuring
adequate in-house parking space for parking of the
expected number of vehicles of the inhabitants, employees
and visitors and in this regard appropriate legislation to
prevent the use of the right of way on road systems for
parking purposes will be notified.
(ii) For existing buildings and commercial complexes built
without providing adequate parking space, such parking
facilities will be built off-street by the Local Bodies at
suitable locations and costs recovered from the building
owners.
(iii) Open and multi-storied parking facilities will be
constructed by the Government at important transport
terminals, market centre's and multi-modal logistic centre's
to promote inter-modal transportation.
(iv) Levy of high parking fee that truly represents the value
of the land occupied will be used as a means to make use
of public transport more attractive.
7.7 Rural Transport: The settlement pattern in Puducherry is
unique in the Country with land islands interspersed with Tamil
Nadu lands. The Right of Way of the roads, both structural and
capacity-wise, are far from satisfactory which prevent introduction
of buses in these routes.
7.7.1 Objectives:
(i) To ensure easy access and reliable public transport to all
classes of rural society.
(ii) To improve standards of rural roads connecting the
villages to allow bus services.
7.7.2 Strategies:
(i) The policy of the Government is to connect all villages/
Panchayats and settlements inhabited by more than 500
people with bus services. The roads in these areas will be
widened to minimum 8 meters standard for extending the
bus services.
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LA GAZETTE DE L'ETAT
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(ii) Coastal Highway and other District roads will be
developed to connect hitherto unconnected rural areas
and they will be provided with the much needed public
transport services.
(iii) Low sized and low capacity mini buses will be introduced
in rural low density routes where road width is not
sufficient for plying of large or medium size buses.
Intermediate Public Transport services such as 4 wheeled
Cabs/Tempos/Vans/Mini Buses (with 5-15 passenger
capacity) will be encouraged to serve in identified rural
routes as feeder services to the main arterial routes by
issuing special permits.
(iv) The fare rate will be determined separately for such
mini-bus services in rural areas depending on their
financial viability. Government will consider giving tax
concessions to such vehicles to improve their operational
efficiency.
(v) The Government will encourage battery operated/solar
powered low capacity vehicles in rural areas by offering
special incentives.
7.8 Goods Transport:
The economic diversion towards Secondary and Territory sector
has resulted in substantial amount of freight traffic. The demand
for construction activities from real estate and other sectors of the
economy is also buoyant resulting in higher goods transportation.
There is a need to plan for inter-modal infrastructure for goods
transportation by creating multi-modal transhipment terminals at
goods terminals.
7.8.1 Objectives:
(i) To ensure high quality goods transport service to the
consumers through intermodal freight transportation and
strengthen its infrastructure development.
(ii) Provide barrier free movement of long haul goods vehicles
entering the state.
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7.8.2 Strategies:
(i) Goods transport by road/rail/coastal transport system will
be modernized to facilitate their intermodal integration.
Multi-axle trucks and container transport will be
encouraged by creating necessary infrastructure, terminal
facilities and wayside amenities for these vehicles and for
their parking and servicing.
(ii) Speed Governors and Intelligent Transport System will be
adopted for smooth goods movement by road.
(iii) Introduction of Green channel will be considered for
avoiding unnecessary detentions and harassments of
vehicles at check posts. All check posts will be modernized
with intelligent vehicle inspecting system to reduce
detention period of vehicles for checking.
7.9 Motor Vehicles: The car and Two wheeler population is
showing the trend of buoyant growth in recent decades and 80%
of the registered motorized vehicles are personalized vehicles.
Measures need to be taken to discourage use of personalized
vehicles both from the angle of road safety, fuel economy and clean
environmental standards.
7.9.1 Objectives:
(i) To arrest the trend for sharp-rise in private vehicle
ownership in the state and improve driving skills and
vehicle fitness to improve road safety.
(ii) To encourage cleaner eco-friendly and energy efficient
vehicles and phase out old vehicles that pollute the
environment.
(iii) To make issuance of driving licence and vehicle inspection
strict and IT based so as to reduce scope for subjectivity
and extraneous considerations.
7.9.2 Strategies:
(i) The Transport Department will be strengthened to make it
more as a Transport System Regulator than mere revenue
collection and licence issuing agent.
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(ii) Model Driver training institutions will be established in
all regions with requisite infrastructure support.
(iii) The Government will strengthen introducing modern
web-based database of the vehicles and adopting
e-payment scheme for payment of taxes and modern
methods of vehicle tracking and monitoring system by
establishing necessary control centres.
(iv) The Government will set up exclusive wing for road safety
enforcement which will work on automated system. Existing
other enforcement agencies will also be equally equipped.
Emphasis of enforcement will be to smoothen the traffic
flow and reduce road accidents.
7.10 Road Safety: Due to friction and conflicts inflicted by the
cris-crossing of vehicles such as cycles, pedestrians, slow mode,
etc., not only the level of service of the roads deteriorated sharply
but, also resulted in higher accident causalities. Accidents become
a common scene on Puducherry roads and major brunt of these
accidents are born by cyclists, pedestrians, and two wheelers.
On an average annually around 200 people die and around 1,500
get hospitalized due to road accidents.
Road accident rate and fatalities are increasing in the state
without any abetment. There is an urgent need to control road
accidents and gradually bring it down to zero level.
7.10.1 Objectives:
(i) Reduce the occurrence and severity of road accidents and
consequently, the level of fatalities and injuries in an
efficient and professional manner.
(ii) Reduce road accidents by at least 50% by 2020 and to
maintain zero growth level further.
7.10.2 Strategies:
(i) The Government will strengthen the Road Safety Cell of
the Transport Department with regulatory, advisory,
capacity building and research functions to provide an
institutional framework for a coordinated approach to
prevent road accidents.
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(ii) The Government will establish necessary infrastructure to
carry out routine accident investigations and conduct
safety audit of highways and intersections to identify
stretches/spots having defective road geometrics and lack
of road safety devices.
(iii) Strict enforcement will be done against all traffic violations
using IT based intelligent transport devices such as speed
radar/cameras, GPS, etc., and enhance penalty clauses and
amount.
(iv) Inspection and Certification (I&C) of transport vehicles will
be made compulsory by covering both safety and emission
norms and link registration/insurance of vehicles with I&C.
(v) The Government will encourage private sector participation
in rescue, evacuation and trauma care of accident victims
for effective delivery of emergency relief services.
(vi) Establishing post-accident trauma care facilities desirably
at every 5 to 10 km. radius of occurrence of accidents on
National and State highways.
(vii) The Government will encourage NGOs and other expert
agencies in spreading road safety messages and conduct
road safety awareness campaigns to educate public on safe
road user behavior.
8. Fare Structuring.— Independent Quasi Judicial Body will be
set up to closely monitor direct and indirect costing of transport
industry as a whole and create a mechanism whereby fares and freight
rates are restructured periodically to ensure the viability of the industry
and safeguard the interest of the general public as well.
9. Inter-Modal Transport Coordination
9.1 Inter-modal connectivity: Travel corridors have varying
densities of travel demand and hence need technologies that best match
the level of demand on the corridor. This often requires different
operators managing such systems. However, a good transport system
is one that is perceived by the user as a single system and allows
seamless travel between one mode and the other as also between
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systems managed by different operators. Such seamless inter-change is
possible if, proper inter-change infrastructure is available and users are
able to use a single ticket over all such systems. This also requires that
a single agency takes responsibility for coordination so that there is
common approach to transport planning and management. In order to
achieve this, the proposed Puducherry Urban Transport Agency will be
strengthened.
9.2 Railways: The present rail transport system in the State is
weak and there is scope for improving the coverage of railways in the
Union territory of Puducherry. Several express trains connecting the
major cities, Mainline Electrical Multiple Units (MEMU) between major
inter-city routes and urban trains between intra-city routes with latest
electronic passenger information system and ticketing systems will be
introduced. In this regard, the Ministry of Railways will be impressed
upon to execute speedy railway projects in the Union territory of
Puducherry.
9.3 Multi-modal logistic parks: There is also a need for
constructing multi-modal logistic parks at selected locations in the State
which will act as new industrial and commercial growth centres and for
facilitating goods transportation to and fro these industrial zones and
elsewhere. These centres will be served by all modes and there will be
integrated movement of goods by different modes.
9.4 Air transportation: The Government policy in aviation
sector would be to promote easier and faster air transport facility for
the business, tourist and emergency traffic by constructing medium
sized Airports in all the regions and helipads in all towns and major
tourist locations in the State. This will encourage inter-city air taxi
services both in public and private sector using smaller aircrafts and
helicopters for faster connectivity, for emergency needs as well as for
commerce and tourism.
9.5 Coastal shipping: Transportation by coastal shipping is
the cheapest mode especially for bulk commodities and for those long
haulage traffic. There is scope for connecting Chennai and other regions
of the Union territory of Puducherry through coastal shipping mode.
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The Government will notify a Port policy in which private sector
will be encouraged to participate in Port construction and in the
development of Port activities.
10. Integration of Land Use and Transport Planning.— The design
of the transport system will have to depend on city specific features
such as population, area, urban form, topography, economic activities,
income levels, growth constraints, etc., and thus transport planning is
intrinsically linked to land use planning and both need to be developed
together in a manner that serves the entire population and yet minimises
travel needs. Therefore, the Government will promote Transit Oriented
Development plans to integrate land use and transport plans for all
towns/cities of the Union territory of Puducherry.
11. Manpower.— Although there are about 3 lakh registered
drivers in the State, there is a dearth of skilled Drivers to drive heavy
vehicles including passenger buses and goods vehicles. Most of the
heavy vehicle Drivers are very young and do not have adequate training
in handling these vehicles. Likewise there is also great demand for
expertise in managing various transport related activities including travel
and tour operations and managing traffic. There is a need to ensure
continuous availability of trained and skilled manpower in transport sector.
11.1 Objectives :
(i) To ensure availability of adequate trained manpower to
manage and operate different transport operations and to
control of traffic congestion in cities, highways, etc.,
11.2 Strategies:
(i) The Government will encourage setting up of Drivers and
Mechanics training centres (both in private and public) in
each District and provide advanced driving simulators and
test-track facilities to impart innovative Driver training and
driving behaviour for enhancing road safety.
(ii) The Government will look into the welfare aspects of
unorganized Drivers including fixation of fair and minimum
wages to reduce drop outs from profession.
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(iii) The Government will encourage creating a reserve of traffic
wardens after giving necessary training to students,
youths and other volunteers/social activists to regulate
traffic at congested junctions during peak periods on
voluntary/part time basis.
(iv) The Government will give incentives to Drivers who show
accident free defensive driving habits.
12. Good Governance.— The current structure of Governance for
the transport sector is not equipped to deal with the problems of
transport sector. The present structure do not provide for the right
coordination mechanisms to deal with transport problems. Towards this
end, the Government proposes to establish Puducherry Urban Transport
Agency (PUTA) which will act as the umbrella agency to regulate the
overall performance of the transport system in the Union territory of
Puducherry. The agency would inter-alia conduct necessary scientific
studies to design networks and routes, assess demand, contract services,
monitor performance and manage the transport system. The agency will
have representation from all the major operators and stakeholders.
13. Resource Mobilization.— The Government will encourage
private investment in developing transport infrastructure in the State.
Government will ensure availability of land and guaranteed minimum
returns to the Special Purpose Vehicles constituted for the purpose
by way of capital grant and annuities to bridge the short falls in the
revenue.
The Government will provide adequate budgetary support for
development of transport infrastructure in the Union territory of
Puducherry. The existing tax and subsidy policy will be restructured with
a view to enhance revenue on the one hand and encourage public
transport.
14. Policy Implementation.— The Line Departments such as
Local Administration, Port, Public Works, Transport, Town and Country
Planning, Puducherry Road Transport Corporation Limited, Puducherry
Urban Transport Agency Limited and other Departments involved in
Transport Sector based on this Transport Policy will prepare their
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online publication at “http://styandptg.puducherry.gov.in”
Government Central Press
Directorate of Stationery and Printing
Puducherry-605 009.
Strategies and implementable Short/Medium/Long Term Action Plans
within a period of one year from the notification of the Transport Policy.
The Transport Policy, Comprehensive Mobility Plans, Comprehensive
Development Plans and similar Development Plans will be the guiding
documents. The Puducherry Urban Transport Agency will co-ordinate
in effecting Integrated Multi Modal Transport System in the Union
territory of Puducherry.
The Transport Policy and Action Plans will be reviewed periodically
once in three years and goals will be reset.
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