Aurangabad (Maharashtra):Centre is mulling to relax the speed limit on state and national highways across the country, Union road transport minister Nitin Gadkari said on Wednesday evening during his visit to Aurangabad city. Gadkari had arrived in the city to attend an event and also for a review meeting with officials of the National Highway Authorities of India (NHAI).
At present, the speed limit on highways remains between 80 and 120 kmph. Any motorist exceeding the limit ends up receiving a challan from the highway traffic police who use state-of-the-art sensors and cameras to identify speeding vehicles.
When the Union Minister announced that by using the new highway between Pune and Aurangabad, commuters will be able to cover the 268km distance in two-and-a-half hours, journalists questioned the claim stating that it is almost impossible for anyone to cover the distance in that time, as it would attract challans from the highway police. The journalists similarly questioned the claim about commuters being able to travel from Aurangabad to Solapur, a distance of 307 km, in just four hours.
Gadkari acknowledged the issue and said, “The powers to set the speed limit are part of the concurrent list. We have scheduled a related meeting at Bengaluru, where the central government and the ministers representing state governments will pass a common resolution.”
