Cashless treatment for road accident victims, rules for e-rickshaw: Check key announcements by Nitin Gadkari

The government is set to roll out a nationwide scheme by March 2025 to provide cashless treatment of up to ₹1.5 lakh per accident for road accident victims, Union Minister Nitin Gadkari announced on Tuesday.

The modified scheme, aimed at ensuring timely medical care during the critical "golden hour," will be implemented through the National Health Authority (NHA).

Victims will be entitled to cashless treatment for a maximum of seven days from the date of the accident.

"The broad contours of the pilot programme are -- victims entitled to cashless treatment up to a maximum of ₹1.5 lakh per accident per person for a maximum period of 7 days from date of the accident," Gadkari said at a press conference in New Delhi.

The scheme, which integrates the e-Detailed Accident Report (eDAR) platform of the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways with the NHA's Transaction Management System, follows a pilot project launched in March 2024 in Chandigarh and later expanded to six states.

Gadkari said that the government is studying labour laws to frame a policy for fixing working hours for commercial drivers, on the lines of pilots, as driver fatigue is resulting in fatal road crashes. He added that India is facing a shortage of 22 lakh drivers.

During the two-day workshop, efforts to accelerate the vehicle scrapping policy, including expediting the setup of registered vehicle scrapping facilities and automated testing stations, were discussed.

Gadkari chaired discussions with transport ministers of all states and UTs, which culminated in the 42nd Transport Development Council meeting where suggestions from the country’s transport organisations were deliberated upon.

He launched a scheme to establish Driver Training Institutes (DTIs) across the country with additional incentives for integrated infrastructure. The minister also unveiled “Naksha,” a data-driven road safety tool, alongside applications like Sanjaya Portal and Madras Matrix for black spot identification.

Given the proliferation of e-rickshaws across the country, the officials agreed on the need to introduce specific regulations and guidelines for improving safety.

Gadkari said deliberations were done for the introduction of an Advanced Driver Assistance System (ADAS) for trucks and strict enforcement of retro-reflective tape for transport vehicle safety.

The ministry outlined plans for pan-India faceless transport services under the Vahan and Sarathi platforms by March 2025.

States were urged to expedite the rollout of the All India Tourist Permit (AITP), Bharat (BH) series vehicle registration, and High-Security Registration Plates (HSRP).

"Further, a Committee of Secretaries with representatives from States, MoRTH and NIC will work towards standardization of faceless services modules, document standardisation for registration," he added.