New Delhi: The number of road accidents and fatalities have decreased since the implementation of the Motor Vehicles Amendment Act 2019, the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways has stated.In response to questions on whether the amendment was able to “achieve its objective to reduce the number of road accidents”, the Ministry said as per the information available from certain States and union territories, “the road accidents and fatalities have reduced”.Providing the “Comparative Road Fatalities Data for State/UTs” for September-October 2018 and 2019 respectively, the ministry said there was a reduction of 2.1% fatalities in Kerala, 4.1% in Chhattisgarh, 9.8% in Uttar Pradesh, 10.5% in Bihar, 11.8% in Haryana, 13.8% in Gujarat, 21.8% in Uttarakhand, 30.7% in Puducherry and 75% in Chandigarh.In answer to queries posed by MPs M. Selvaraj and Anto Antony, Union transport minister Nitin Gadkari also responded that the ministry has not received inputs from states on whether they have implemented the Act under which heavy fines and penalties have been imposed for violation of traffic rules.Also read: After Gujarat, Karnataka Announces Slashes to Motor Vehicles Act Penalties“The Ministry has not received any information from any State that they are not implementing the provisions of the Motor Vehicles (Amendment) Act, 2019. As per section 200 of the Motor Vehicles Act 1988 the State Government may by notification in the official gazette specify such amount for compounding of certain offences,” the written reply said.On the benefits arising out of the amendment, the ministry said:“The Motor Vehicles (Amendment) Act, 2019 is intended to bring reforms in the area of road safety, bring citizen facilitation, transparency, and reduce corruption with the help of information technology and removing intermediaries. The Act will strengthen public transport, safeguard and protect Good Samaritan and bring in reforms in the insurance and compensation regime. It will allow innovation and new technologies and will bring accountability of manufacturers of Motor Vehicles.”It also claimed that “the Act will facilitate [the] Divyang (a term popularised by the Narendra Modi government for persons with disabilities) by allowing motor vehicles to be converted to adapted vehicles and facilitating licence to drive adapted vehicle.”In response to other queries on the introduction of the “One Nation One FASTag Scheme” that is aimed to provide seamless travel through toll plazas, the ministry said for the scheme that comes into effect from December 1, 2019 around 66 lakh ‘FASTags’ had been issued till November 14.Also read: Not All States Convinced By High New Traffic Violation PenaltiesTo questions posed by six different MPs on whether the government has signed any memorandums of understanding for integration of FASTags with the GST e-way bill system, Gadkari replied:“To enhance National Electronic Toll Collection (NETC) programme coverage and to offer seamless services to consumers across the country, National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) through Indian Highways Management Company Limited (IHMCL) has launched scheme guidelines for inclusion of State Fee Plazas under NETC programme.”He said NHAI has signed agreements with certain states and added that an MoU was also signed on October 14, 2019 between IHMCL and GST Network (GSTN) for integrating E-Way Bill system with FASTag. “This has been done with a view to overcoming the existing challenge in track and trace mechanism for GST E-Way Bill (EWB) System and enhance the efficiency in its monitoring,” the minister said.With government advertisements urging people to shift to FASTag, as it would become mandatory from December 1 this year, the minister added that “the trial run for dedicated FASTag lanes on pilot basis has begun on certain fee plazas.”He added that NHAI has appointed nodal officers at all fee plazas whereas the government has appointed “Central Prabhari” officers to monitor the progress.Earlier this year on June 27, the ministry had also stated that all vehicles under category M and N and sold after December 1, 2017 were required to be fitted with FASTag by the manufacturer of the vehicle or its authorised dealer. It had also replied that the government had made it mandatory to affix FASTag for issuance of national permits, in order to bring commercial vehicles on board.