New draft of bill gives UMTA more powers
However, the formation of UMTA, the first such initiative across the country, suffered major delay.
Kochi: The draft Unified Metropolitan Transport Authority (UMTA) bill was on Tuesday submitted to the Law Secretary for legal vetting, the final step towards formation of a single agency for planning and regulating the entire urban transport system in Kochi. The bill was re-submitted by the Kochi Metro Rail Ltd (KMRL) after making a few modifications, mainly allotting more power to the proposed UMTA in decision making, as per the direction of the Chief Secretary on the basis of recommendations of an expert committee.
“The modified draft bill was submitted for legal vetting today morning. Usually cabinet approval is sought for new ordinance and not for ordinance replacement. In this case an ordinance was passed earlier. However, it’s for the Law secretary to decide whether to seek cabinet approval or not,” transport secretary K. R. Jyotilal told DC. “The modifications will make UMTA more powerful which gives it powers to take decisions overriding concerned agencies in various sectors. Kochi will be model for implementing the Metropolitan Transport Authority to be followed in Thiruvananthapuram and Kozhikode in the long run,” said a senior KMRL official.
It was in July, 2014, that the KMRL submitted the draft bill to the government for approval after the government issued a notification forming a committee headed by its managing director Elias George for the purpose. However, the formation of UMTA, the first such initiative across the country, suffered major delay. The process of realizing it started only a month ago when a high-level meet chaired by the Chief Secretary discussed it in detail just before the Kochi Metro commercial operations started. All agencies in transport sector will come under UMTA providing a single transportation network with seamless interchanges and ticketing and a unified transportation network management, command and control. It will not only coordinate the rail, road and waterways but integrate metro rail, freight vehicles, auto-rickshaws, taxis and even non-motorised modes of transport like cycling.