Brishin Patel (centre) at the regional meet on Monday. Picture by Jai Prakash

Expressing wish to introduce eco-friendly vehicles in the state capital, the transport department on Monday admitted that the public transit system was inadequate in Bihar.

Speaking on the first day of the two-day regional meeting of the National Transport Development Policy Committee (NTDPC), the transport secretary, R.K. Mahajan, said his department was keen to introduce CNG (compressed natural gas) buses, taxis and autorickshaws in the city to ensure environment conservation. “But the department is facing problems in setting up of CNG filling stations. Earlier, Patna High Court had asked the ministry of petroleum and natural gas to arrange for CNG filling stations. But steps in that direction are yet to be taken,” said Mahajan at the meet of NTDPC, constituted by the Government of India in February 2010, for framing a long-term national transport policy.

In the presence of representatives from Odisha, Jharkhand, Chhattisgarh, Bengal and senior members of the national committee, Mahajan expressed his anguish over the dearth of public vehicles in the state. “The number of registered vehicles in the state has been increasing by around 25 per cent annually over the past five years. On August 31 this year, the total number of registered vehicles in the state was 31,78,830. Of them, 80 per cent were private vehicles. In the absence of an efficient, adequate and comfortable public transport system in the urban areas, people are compelled to use personal vehicles for commuting,” he said.

Speaking at the meet, state transport minister Brishin Patel emphasised on the development of transport system in rural areas. “There is a wide variation in road connectivity among various states and between urban and rural areas within a state. Thus, the thrust of the national transport policy should be on bridging these gaps and bring the underdeveloped states on a par with the developed ones,” he said.

K.L. Thapar, the chairman of Asian Institute of Transport Development, said: “The Bihar government seems to be doing well in the road construction sector. Other states should take lessons from the large network of roads developed in Bihar in the past few years and the other ambitious projects in the pipeline.”