Environmental protection, road safety issues and related provisions during transportation of hazardous materials by road in India

Abstract

15-30In recent years, keeping pace with other industrialized countries, India has also witnessed rapid growth in transportation of hazardous goods by road. Moreover, due to unprecedented growth of chemical industries all over the world, the proportion of hazardous chemicals/ goods in total freight traffic is increasing at a much higher rate than any other commodity. Experiences from all over the world have shown that the transportation of such substances/ chemicals is more prone to accidents than the movement of the other goods. It has been observed that the carriers of such hazardous materials, when involved in a road accident may lead to disastrous consequences like fire, explosion, spillage and leakage, resulting in a number of fatalities and injuries besides property loss and environmental pollution.The Government (both Central and State), have prescribed various rules and regulations for the safe handling (e.g., manufacture, storage,transportation, treatment and disposal) of hazardous materials/ chemicals without adversely affecting the environment. The Ministry of Environment and Forests (MoEF), Govt. of India has prescribed various rules and regulations under various Environmental Legislations/Acts for safe handling of these hazardous materials (excluding related to their transportation by road), which has been covered under the differentprovisions of the Motor Vehicles Act (MVA) (1988) including the Central Motor Vehicle Rules (CMVR) (1989) formulated by the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways [now, Ministry of Shipping, Road Transport and Highways (MoSRTH]), Govt. of India. In spite of these rules and regulations, accidents do take place due to the lack of their strict implementation and awareness amongst different stake holders. The present paper briefly summarizes some major accidents which have occurred during the transportation of hazardous materials by road in India and enlist various major national laws (including environment and road safety related laws) which are applicable while transporting such hazardous materials/ chemicals by road in India. As accidents during transporation of hazardous materials, may have serious consequences and generally cause damage to life, property and environment, it is essential that the Central and State Governments and also local authorities must be fully prepared to meet such eventualities. The paper has also enlisted several short-term and long-term measures which if implemented by Government and other agencies will help in improving road safety during the transporation of hazardous material