In a bid to prevent overloaded
vehicles from
plying on national highways,
the Ministry of
Road Transport and Highways
has asked the National
Highways Authority of
India to install weighing
machines and other necessary
equipment near key
toll plazas on a pilot basis.
The nodal agency for
development, maintenance
and management of national
highways proposes to
constitute a technical committee
soon for considering
the various measures that
need to be initiated to curb
the menace of overloading.
Besides reviewing the
provisions of Model Concession
Agreement and
User Fee Rules-2008, the
committee would look at
setting up weight enforcement
stations at convenient
locations, approximately 1
to 2 km. before toll plazas.
Overloaded vehicles not
only cause damage to highways
but are also responsible
for the growing number
of road accidents.
As per section 114 of the
Motor Vehicles Act 1988, a
vehicle found to be overloaded
has to be offloaded
of the excess load at the cost
of the driver or owner of the
vehicle and also penalized
and charged compounding
fee before being allowed to
proceed further. A 2005
Supreme Court judgment
categorically states that
where excess load is detected,
it needs to be offloaded
and fine/compounding fee
levied before allowing the
vehicle to continue on
its journey.
"In the first place, the
NHAI should not be
allowing overloaded vehicles
to enter its highways,"
S.P. Singh, senior fellow
and coordinator at the
Indian Foundation of
Transport Research and
Training, a New Delhi based
independent
research and monitoring
body that focuses on the
road transport sector, told
Projectmonitor.
"The NHAI is duty bound
under the NHAI Act to protect
the life of its assets.
Overloaded vehicles are
plying on highways
because of lack of enforcement
of the provisions of
law. Nevertheless, the proposal
of the NHAI to constitute
a technical committee
to look in to the various
measures that need to be
initiated to curb the menace
of overloading is a step in
the right direction. This
should have been done
long time back.
However, it needs to be
understood that weigh-inmotion
devices cannot be
installed at toll plazas
overnight. It will be done
on pilot basis first and later
in phases. Stretches where
the density of overloaded
vehicles is high are going
to be chosen initially for
installation. There is no
doubt though that such a
measure, even if implemented
partially but in a
proper manner, would
send a strong message
against the practice of
overloading. It is expected
that in the coming months,
more measures would be
initiated by the government
to further tighten the
noose around overloaded
vehicles," he added.
The Ministry of Road
Transport and Highways
claims that given road
transport is a state subject,
the responsibility of curbing
the practice of overloading
primarily rests with state
governments.
In February last year, the
Road Transport and Highways
Secretary had written
to chief secretaries of
all states and union territories
urging strict enforcement
of the provisions of
law to check the menace
of overloading.