 bill no 64 of  2012 the  national highways (amendment) bill, 2012 by dr mahendrasinh p chauhan, mp a billfurther to amend the national highways act, 1956be it enacted by parliament in the sixty-third year of the republic of india as follows:—short title1 this act may be called the national highways ( amendment) act, 201248 of 19562  for section 5 of the national highways act, 1956, the following section shall be substituted, namely:—substitution of new section for section 55"5 (1) save as otherwise provided in this act, it shall be the responsibility ofthe state government—(i) to develop, maintain and repair from time to time the portion of the nationalhighways situated in that state subject to such conditions, if any, as the central government may, by notification in the official gazette, specify;10responsibility for development, maintenance and repairing of national highways and provision of certain facilities, etc(ii) to provide and maintain public utility services such as drinking waterfacilities, toilets, urinals equipped with flush system and public telephone booths on national highways at such places within the state, as it may deem appropriate;(iii) to provide ambulance services on national highways at such strategic locations within the state, as it may deem appropriate, for the purpose of facilitating immediate medical assistance to the victims of road accidents; and(iv) to provide tow away services to any destination for accidental or breakdown vehicles on national highways situated within the state5(2) the central government shall, after due appropriation made by parliament in this behalf by law, provide requisite funds to the state governments for the purposes of this section statement  of  objects  and  reasonsthe national highways and roads are not only essential for commuting from one place to another but in fact they are the lifelines of our economy most of essential commodities and industrial products are transported from one place to another through road transport thus roads and road transport system is an important cog in the wheel of our economy but unfortunately the national highways and other such roads are in a pitiable condition potholes are visible everywhere which damage vehicles plying on them driving vehicles on such damaged roads lead to more consumption and wastage of fuel, which is already a scarce commodity, not only in our country but throughout the world thus, it is necessary to maintain and repair the highways and roads periodically to keep them in good conditionit has also been observed that victims of road accidents, particularly on national highways, do not get timely medical assistance if adequate ambulance service is provided on highways, victims can be shifted to the nearest medical centre or hospital in time and hence precious lives can be saved similarly, vehicles breaking down on roads cause traffic disruptions if they are not removed on time in order to tow away such vehicles, crane service is necessary further, the public utility services like toilets, telephone booths, atm, etc have also become a necessity to be provided on roads and highwaysthe national highways act, 1956 was enacted with a view to provide for the declaration of certain highways to be national highways and for matters connected therewith however, there is no mention of certain facilities like drinking water, toilets, urinals, public telephone booths to be provided by the government on national highways in this act moreover, the state government concerned should also play a role of partner in development, maintenance and repairing of national highways therefore, the bill seeks to amend the national highways act, 1956 with a view to achieve aforesaid objectiveshence this billnew delhi;mahendrasinh  p  chauhanapril 13, 2012 financial  memorandumclause 2 of the bill provides for providing of certain facilities like drinking water, toilets, urinals, public telephone booths on national highways including development, maintenance and repairing of national highways it also provides that the central government shall provide requisite funds to the state governments for the purpose of providing aforesaid facilities on national highways the bill, therefore, if enacted, will involve expenditure from the consolidated fund of india it is estimated that a sum of rupees one thousand crore is likely to involve as recurring expenditure per annuma sum of rupees ten crore is also likely to be involved as non-recurring expenditure annexure extract from the national highways act, 1956 (act no 48 of 1956)|               ||----------------|| responsibility || for            || development    || and            || maintenance    || of national    || highways      |5 it shall be the responsibility of the central government to develop and maintain in proper repair all national highways, but the central government may, by notification in the official gazette, direct that any function in relation to the development or maintenance of any national highway shall, subject to such conditions, if any, as may be specified in the notification, also be exercisable by the government of the state within which the national highway is situated or by any officer or authority subordinate to the central government or to the state government|     |     |     |     |     |     |    ||------|------|------|------|------|------|-----|———— a billfurther to amend the national highways act, 1956————(dr mahendrasinh p chauhan, mp)gmgipmrnd—1577ls(s3)—16-07-2012