Government asks highways authority to install weighing machines near toll plazas

NEW DELHI: National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) has been requested to install weighing machines and other necessary equipments near key toll plazas on a pilot basis to curb the practice of overloading and take stringent measures to curb overloading.

NHAI has proposed to constitute a Technical Committee to review the provision of Model Concession Agreement and install weighing enforcement stations at a convenient location, 1-2 Km before on either sides of the Toll Plazas.

Overloading badly damages the precious road infrastructure, incurring huge expenses on the exchequer to maintain the roads and is one of the major causes for increasing number of road accidents as per reports.

As per Motor Vehicles Act 1988, in case a vehicle is found to be overloaded, the excess load needs to be off-loaded at the cost of the driver of the vehicle in addition to penalty and compounding fee before allowing the vehicle to proceed further.

Being a state subject, the responsibility for curbing the overloading of vehicles primarily rests with the state governments.

Recently, the Secretary of the Roads Ministry had sent a letter to all the Chief Secretaries of State Governments requesting them to instruct the enforcement authorities in states to check the practice of overloading and send “Action Taken Report”.

In response, 25 State and Union territories have reported to have initiated action for curbing overloading in their respective states.