Journalism of Courage
Commercial goods carriers will face suspension of permit and drivers licence or will be slapped fines of up to Rs 7,000 if found to be overloaded,next week onwards. The decision was taken by the Regional Transport Authority (RTA) headed by the district collector after several inputs from the revenue department. The decision will be applicable to all goods carriers within the Pune district limits.
Regional Transport Officer (RTO) Arun Yeola,who is also the secretary of RTA,said,So far there was no provision for suspension of permits,and fines were imposed only under the Motor Vehicles Act. The new norm will keep thing under check. Also,the new scheme of fines will be in addition to the existing Motor Vehicles Act fines.
The fines will be calculated in terms of percentage of overloading keeping in mind the Registered Laden Weight (RLW),the Gross Vehicle Weight (GVW) and the number of times the offence is committed. For instance,a first time offender will be charged Rs 1,000,the second time he will be charged Rs 2,000. If a transporter refuses to pay,the goods carrier permit and in some cases the drivers licence will be suspended for 7-30 days period, added Yeola.
As per existing fines under the the Motor Vehicles Act,for every extra tonne of goods,a fine of Rs 2,000 is imposed. This will be in addition to the new fine norms. The Pune RTO has 1,66,000 commercial vehicles registered under it,of which an estimated 45,000 are goods carriers. However,the fines and suspension of permits and licence will be applicable to all the vehicles that flout the norms while plying on roads in Pune district,irrespective of where they are registered.
Overloading of sand trucks is a common problem that leads to accidents in the city as well as highways. The revenue department has been sending us requests to impose fines as truck owners keep finding ways to flout revenue department norms, said a senior RTO official.
