Students’ safety on roads is priority : new MP Transport Commissioner Jha

BHOPAL/Newly appointed Madhya Pradesh Transport Commissioner (TC) Sanjay Kumar Jha has said that students’ safety would be his priority, he also asserted that enforcement activities would be accelerated to mitigate road mishaps in the state and to increase revenue.

Giving forth his other priorities, Jha said that implementing effectively the schemes of the state and central governments would also be focused. After joining as the Head of the Transport Department, he instructed officers of the department to run an effective state-wide checking drive for school buses.

Additional Director General (ADG) in the state police Jha is a 1989 batch IPS (Indian Police Services) officer of the Madhya Pradesh cadre. He has recently been appointed as the TC replacing Mukesh Jain (special DG) who has been shifted to police headquarters in Bhopal. The State Home Ministry released the order in this regard on 16 July. ADG Jha assumed charge as the TC on Monday. After joining as the new HoD, he conducted a meeting with the officials of the department at the headquarters of the MP Transport Department in Gwalior on Wednesday. Additional Transport Commissioner Enforcement, Arvind Saxena introduced the officers and employees to the TC, Jha.

Speaking to The Sun Today Jha said that the Transport Department would implement the SARTHI and VAHAN schemes, the online services introduced by the Union Ministry of Road Transport and Highways (MoRTH) across the state soon. The services of the VAHAN software for registering vehicles on the NIC (national informatics centre) portal was started on Monday in the Vidisha district as a ‘pilot project’, after its success it would be regularised in the entire state, the TC said.

The MoRTH has entrusted the NIC with standardising and deploying the two software SARTHI and VAHAN for driving licenses (including learning licenses) and vehicle registration respectively. M/S Smart Chip Private Limited has still been handling all online functioning of the transport department.

“Ensuring people’s safety is the priority of the state government as well as the Central government, we will gear up the enforcement activities focusing on students’ safety to mitigate road mishaps. A special drive of school bus checking has been launched across the state and we are deeply monitoring it,” Jha said. “For students’ safety, we will make a joint strategy with the help of administration, police, officials of school education, the management of private schools and bus operators. And a joint campaign will be run to limit the speed, ensure vehicle fitness and curb overloading in school buses,” Jha added.

Apart from these, the new TC said additional efforts would be made to increase the revenue of the department, new resources would be searched. “A team of officials would be sent to study in those states where the registration of vehicles is done more than in our state and why?”, Jha further added. Senior IPS Jha has been awarded the President’s Police Medal for his outstanding work. He has been posted as Inspector General in Bhopal, Chambal and Jabalpur zones. Jha has also been deputy director general in the Narcotics Control Bureau on Central deputation for three years. Government of India had also made Jha the head of a special drive group on drugs in Punjab. He has been deputy inspector general in Sashastra Seema Bal in Muzaffarpur and Patna.