The speed limit on the Kiratpur–Bilaspur–Mandi National Highway for vehicles is likely to be increased by authorities to 80 kms /per hour.
This was stated by HP Deputy Chief Minister Mukesh Agnihotri, who holds the charge of Transport Minister on Thursday after meeting Union Minister for Road Transport and Highways, Nitin Gadkari at his residence in New Delhi on Thursday.
He said, “An agreement was reached on increasing the speed limit on the Kiratpur–Bilaspur–Mandi route from 60 km/h to 80 km/h.”
There was resentment among common people and commercial operators driving their vehicles on the NH as at present maximum speed limits is 60 km/ per hour and a lot of them were subjected to traffic violation challan for over speeding. Due to installation of CCTV cameras at multiple points’ automatic challaning of vehicle owners had to bear the brunt quite frequently.
This issue was also raised in the Himachal Pradesh Vidhan Sabha a few days back and Chief Minister Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu had announced to take up the issue with the Union Minister of Road and Highways for increasing the speed limit.
Agnihotri said, “Providing major relief to the state’s taxi operators and the tourism sector, a decision was also taken to increase the validity period of taxis operating within the state under Tourist Permits (Contract Carriage) from 12 years to 15 years.”
