STA to intensify drive against overloading of vehicles in Odisha

Sambad English Bureau Published On : Sep 17, 2022 at 5:02 PM

Cuttack: State Transport Authority (STA) today decided to launch a special drive against overloading of vehicles, which is to be conducted throughout Odisha. In its move to promote safety, the Department will initiate a six-day long anti-overloading campaign starting September 19, 2022.

The drive will continue from September 19, 2022 to September 25, 2022. Hyva, tipper, dumper and other similar category vehicles transporting sand, fly ash, chips etc will be checked under this drive. The STA is to take stern action against those who will be found flouting Motor Vehicle rules.

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As many as 1,442 accidents took place in the State due to overloaded/hanging vehicles in 2021. A total of 673 people were killed owing to excessive load condition of such vehicles. Moreover, during the same time, a total of 834 persons were grievously injured and 588 others sustained minor injuries in road accidents involving the overloaded vehicles, a press release issued by the STA mentioned.

According to the Motor Vehicles (Amendment) Act, 2019, the violators will be penalised under Section 194 (l). Overloading of vehicles would attract a penalty of Rs 20,000 and additional fine of Rs 2,000 per extra tonne. Also, the Driving License (DL) may be disqualified for three months.

“The drive will extensively be carried out across the State with special focus on regions having industrial and mining activities as it is most commonly seen that many goods vehicles plying in these region do not comply with the rules, thereby causing accidents. The Act enforcement drive will be conducted with special focus on Rayagada, Balangir, Bargarh, Sambalpur, Jharsuguda, Sundargarh, Dhenkanal, Angul, Cuttack, Kendrapara, Jajpur, Balasore, Bhadrak and Khordha districts,” Transport and Road Safety Joint Commissioner to the Government of Odisha Sanjay Biswal expressed.

Enforcement squads have been asked to conduct such drives at regular intervals, Biswal added.

It is pertinent to mention here that in a major crackdown on overloaded vehicles carried out earlier, a total of 83 e-challans were issued, 25 vehicles were seized and 81 DLs were suspended.

Compounding fees of Rs 3, 69,461 were also collected.