Driving and fitness tests for Ministers, MLAs drivers, says Ponnam

Due to inexperienced drivers, a few VIPs had lost lives in accidents in the recent times. While on long journeys, services of experienced drivers should be utilized, the Minister opined.

Hyderabad: A day after Secunderabad Cantonment MLA Lasya Nanditha died in a road accident, Transport Minister Ponnam Prabhakar said driving and fitness tests would be conducted for drivers working with Ministers, MLAs, IAS and IPS officers. Due to inexperienced drivers, a few VIPs had lost lives in accidents in the recent times. While on long journeys, services of experienced drivers should be utilized, the Minister opined.

“The exercise to conduct driving tests for drivers will be launched in a few days. Already, letters are being written to VIPs about conducting tests” Ponnam Prabhakar told media persons here on Saturday.

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Regarding the Assembly resolution on comprehensive door-to-door household survey (socio, economic, educational, employment, political and caste survey), the Minister said the Congress government was committed in taking up the survey.

An all-party meeting would be convened shortly and the possibilities of constituting a commission were also being explored. Efforts were on replicate the Bihar model of survey and officials would be trained for taking up the exercise, he said.

In Bihar, 2.5 lakh personnel were deployed for conducting the survey and each one was assigned 150 houses for enumeration. Based on the number of households, here too personnel would be deployed, besides BC welfare department would be nodal agency for the survey, the Minister said.