Transport dept intensifies campaign against overloading of vehicles

“All 22 border checkposts in the state have been directed to be alert and the campaign has been intensified against overloading. The flying squads have also been instructed to undertake 24-hour patrolling,” said Deepak Kapoor,Transport Commissioner. He said the state had earned Rs 94 crore last year as fine for overloading of vehicles and the state now targets to take it up to Rs 110 crore by March 31.

“The inspectors have been given weekly targets,while they have been warned,in writing,that they will simply be taken off duty if targets are not achieved,” Kapoor said.

Since the “intensified” campaign began on March 1,the state has so far fined 235 vehicles and recovered fines of around Rs 54 crore. According to a senior official,the vehicles that were penalised were found overloading anywhere between 3 and 28 per cent of their capacity. “These vehicles are mostly from other states,carrying chemicals,steel coils and bars,” an official said.

According to a study carried out by the Central Road Research Institute (CRRI),overloading damages the road infrastructure and subsequently increases the maintenance costs — thus causing additional burden to the state exchequer. The study states that with the increase of load by 10 per cent of the permissible limit,the life of the road pavements is reduced by 35 per cent. Overloading of 30 per cent above the permissible limits will reduce the life of the road pavements by 65 per cent.

The study also revealed that the damages caused by overloading adds to the maintenance and rehabilitation cost of the road infrastructure,to the tune of Rs 20 lakh per lane per kilometre over and above the normal maintenance cost.