Overloaded vehicles pose threat on roads

Archit Watts

Tribune News Service

Muktsar, October 15

It is again the crop harvesting season and the state government is trying hard to keep a check on stubble-burning incidents. However, it seems that no attention has been paid to check the overloading of tractor-trailer laden with crop residue. 

It is a major issue and the authorities are well aware that overloaded vehicles have caused a number of fatal road mishaps in the past.

While travelling on the Muktsar-Malout highway, this correspondent found that a large number of overloaded tractor-trailers were plying, throwing the traffic rules to the wind.

It becomes a bit tough to overtake these overloaded tractor-trailers at night when the traffic volume remains low.

Raman Kumar, a commuter, said, “During the crop harvesting season, an adequate number of policemen should be deployed on roads to challan the overloaded vehicles. These vehicles make the road journey more dangerous.”

Manjit Singh, who is a farmer, said, “No vehicle should be allowed to ferry goods more than the permissible limit. It becomes the duty of traffic cops to check the overloading of vehicles.”

On this, a senior administration official said he would speak to the traffic in-charge of the district and ask him to take necessary action in this regard. However, cops said they were already on their toes and acting against offenders.