News Detail

• In a move to curb overloading of trucks on national highways (NHs), the highways ministry has asked NHAI to crack down on such vehicles. The ministry has also asked the authority to submit an "action taken" report with the ministry for a review after six months.Overloading is one of the main reasons of road fatalities and also causes huge damage to road infrastructure.The ministry sent a letter to the National Highways Authority of India chairman on January 10 stating that after taking up the issue with states to check overloading, 24 states and Union Territories had taken action to curb overloading in their jurisdictions. The letters mentioned that the issue of overloading was also discussed in the National Transport Development Policy Committee (NTDPC) meeting held last month under the chairmanship of the road transport and highways secretary.

• "It was deliberated that though the action on overloading need to be taken by states, yet, it may not be out of context to mention that NHs, being 2% of the total roads, carry 80% of the cargo being plied, either destination-to-destination or partially. Therefore, NHAI should take some strict action against truckers overloading on NHs which may prove a deterrent measure."Referring to the NTDPC meeting outcome, the ministry has asked NHAI to start the process of installing weigh-in-motion machines and other equipment near toll plazas on a pilot basis to curb overloading and take stringent measures against those doing so.

• IRTFT, an advocacy group which has been pushing for anti-overloading measures, has written to the secretary, who also hold the dual charge of NHAI chairman that the authority should invoke the 'Prevention of Damage to Public Property Act, 1984' to take criminal action on operation of overloaded trucks. "Under these provisions, the vehicle can be seized and driver/cleaner can be arrested for the offence and causing damage to roads, which are public assets," S P Singh, a senior fellow with IRTFT, said.

• An assessment by the group shows that overloaded trucks, mostly carrying more than 100% of payload, are passing through toll plazas on highways by paying standard user charges and at the same time are causing damage to NHs.In fact, a Central Road Research Institute (CRRI) study in 2008 on impact of overloading had pointed out that with 10% overloading above the permissible limit, the road life gets reduced by 35% and with 30% overloading, it gets reduced by about 65%. Increase in load by 10% over the specified ceiling would entail additional maintenance and rehabilitation cost of about Rs 20 lakh per lane per kilometre over and above the normal maintenance cost.

Source