The speed limit on the Kiratpur-Bilaspur-Mandi Highway will be increased from 60 km per hour to 80 km per hour following an agreement on the matter between Deputy Chief Minister Mukesh Agnihotri and Union Road Transport and Highways Minister Nitin Gadkari in New Delhi, on Thursday.The move will provide relief to commuters who had been complaining about the low speed limit on the route and frequent challans for exceeding it.Agnihotri also raised several other transport-related issues concerning Himachal Pradesh with the Union Minister.He apprised Gadkari of the long-standing demand of Contract Carriage vehicle operators to increase the permissible age limit of tourist vehicles from 12 to 15 years, on the lines of vehicles operating under the All India Tourist Permit scheme.Agnihotri also raised the issue of inadequate Automated Testing Station (ATS) infrastructure in the hill state. He pointed out that only two ATS centres were currently operational and requested that manual fitness testing be allowed to continue simultaneously until adequate ATS infrastructure was established across the state.Gadkari assured him that the demands would be considered sympathetically and sought details of the status of all ATS centres under construction in the state.Besides, on Agnihotri’s request, instructions were issued to connect the Amritsar-Hoshiarpur National Highway with the National Highway network from Pandoga on the Punjab-Himachal border to Jhalera in Una district.