One-nation-one-card for public transport soon: NITI Aayog
New Delhi, Sep 3: India will shortly unveil a one-nation-one-card policy for public transport that will bring seamless connectivity between various modes of transport, NITI Aayog CEO Amitabh Kant said on Monday.
He said a robust transportation sector was the backbone for the development of any economy, especially for a densely populated developing country like India, and the focus of the nation's mobility strategy was on sustainable modes of public transport, transport-oriented planning and digitisation.
"The objective of the strategy is to plan for the citizens first, rather than focusing on vehicles alone, by providing sustainable mobility and accessibility by switching to cleaner mode of transportation," Kant said at the "Future Mobility Summit-2018-India's Move to NextGen Transport Systems".
The road transportation segment alone contributes to around four per cent of India's GDP with the segment still being heavily dependent on fossil fuels.
In the wake of the worsening air quality in the country's major cities, rising concerns of climate change and an ever-increasing oil import bill, mobility is a crucial piece of the development puzzle and the key to unlocking the potential of India's economy and people, the NITI Aayog CEO said.
NITI Aayog Advisor Anil Srivastava said the government was working towards achieving a robust mobility ecosystem across India.
"The citizens, on their part, should work towards sharing a ride, not owning the ride. The government has integrated many stakeholders across departments to drive India's mobility vision," he added.
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Unexplained deaths: J&K’s Badhaal village declared containment zone
Rajouri/Jammu (PTI): The remote Badhaal village in Jammu and Kashmir's Rajouri district was on Wednesday declared a containment zone and prohibitory orders imposed on all public and private gatherings in the wake of the death of 17 people belonging to three families, officials said.
Another person belonging to the village has been admitted to a hospital in a critical condition, they said.
The containment orders have been imposed under section 163 of the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita (BNSS). Section 163 of BNSS gives magistrates the power to issue written orders in urgent situations. These orders can be used to prevent or remedy nuisance or dangers.
According to the order issued by additional district magistrate (Rajouri) Rajeev Kumar Khajuria, the village has been divided into three containment zones – the first covering all families where deaths have occurred.
“The houses of these affected families shall be sealed and entry will be totally restricted for all individuals, including their family members, unless otherwise authorized by the designated officers/officials.”
In the containment zone 2, the order said the members of all families identified as close contacts of affected individuals be shifted to Government Medical College, Rajouri for continuous health monitoring which is mandatory.
All households will be covered under the containment zone-3 and staff will be deployed to ensure the continuous monitoring of food consumption, deployment of police personnel to enforce compliance and deployment of designated officers for maintenance of log books, the order said.
“All public and private gatherings are hereby prohibited within the jurisdiction of these containment zones, in order to prevent further spread of the infection,” the order said.
It said the designated officials shall be responsible for monitoring all meals provided to families in containment zones.
“It is mandatory for affected families and their close contacts to consume only the food and water provided by the administration. Any other food items available in the households are strictly prohibited for consumption,” the order said.
It ordered immediate replacement of all food and water supplies, and seizure of all edible materials in the infected households.
The fresh steps were taken after Chief Minister Omar Abdullah visited the village on Tuesday.
Seventeen persons belonging to three families linked to each other have died under suspicious circumstances in the village between December 7 and January 19.
A 24-year-old man identified as Aijaz Ahmad was hospitalised on Tuesday evening after his health deteriorated.
