Road Transport Minister Nitin Gadkari on Thursday said that the new Road Safety and Transport Bill, currently pending in Parliament, will help bring down the number of people who die in road accidents. The number stands at around 1.4 lakh a year in India, he said at NDTV’s Road Safety campaign in Mumbai. Gadkari added that the Centre is working on measures to improve safety. He recently made it mandatory for cars across all segments to have airbags.

The minister also said he plans to push through another move and make air conditioners mandatory in trucks to improve the working conditions for drivers. Gadkari also stood firm on his plans to implement Bharat Stage VI emission norms. Speaking at the event, he said car manufacturers have double standards – while they manufacture Euro 6 (equivalent to BS VI) engines for export, they are asking for more time to install the engines for cars running in India. “I cannot appreciate this,” he said.

On Thursday, in a meeting between Gadkari and the heads of 26 auto companies, the companies asked for availability of BS VI fuel by 2020 if they were to switch to BS VI emission norms by then.