Overloaded trucks damage roads, govt sleeps

Deck — Despite Motor Vehicles Act provisions, no action has been taken against truckers

9-tonne limit being flouted

Trucks carrying cement, marble clinker, timber, tiles, steel and building material are flouting the provisions of the Motor Vehicles Act and carrying load more than the prescribed limit of 9 tonnes

The Prevention of Damage to Public Property Act empowers the state to impound trucks and detain drivers

Ravinder Sood

Palampur November 2

Despite the fact that the government is aware of the damage to its highways every year by overloaded trucks, state agencies is yet to take action against defaulters.

In the past few years, state and national highways have been damaged by overloaded trucks, but the traffic police and the Transport Department have become the mute spectators.

Trucks carrying cement, marble clinker, timber, tiles, steel and building material are flouting the provisions of the Motor Vehicles Act and carrying load more than the prescribed limit of 9 tonnes.

The Indian Foundation of Transport Research and Training (IFTRT) has cautioned the government against the overloading by vehicles. It has further suggested invoking the Prevention of Damage to Public Property Act, which empowers the state to impound trucks and detain drivers. However, the State Transport Department and the traffic police are yet to swing into action.

According to a study, 10 per cent overloading by trucks entail an additional maintenance cost of Rs 25 lakh per km over and above the normal maintenance cost.

Most weighing machines installed, at a high cost by the government, at entry points of the state are either out of order or not used by officers posted on the barriers. Kandwal and Toki barriers, the two main entry points from Punjab in Kangra district, have been functioning without weighing machines. A senior RTO officer admitted that both weighing machines had been non-functional for the past many months and efforts were on to repair these.

Following the failure on the part of government agencies, the state is facing losses between Rs 6,000 cr and Rs 7,000 cr every year. The Kalka-Shimla, Kiratpur-Manali, Una-Kangra, Pathankot-Mandi and Pathankot-Chamba highways are the worst affected.