Nitin Gadkari Warns Transporters Of Hefty Fines For Overloading

Warning transporters that they will have to pay hefty fines for overloading, Union Road Transport Minister Nitin Gadkari said, otherwise they won’t understand the gravity of risks on Indian roads.

He said they have to be held responsible for loading more weight than the permissible limit while announcing that the government has decided to provide at least four-lane highway connectivity to all districts for faster cargo movement.

Addressing a conference of Hydraulic Trailer Owners Association (HTOA), Gadkari said one of the association office bearers was suggesting to him that the authority should penalise the consignee as well for overloading.

"I told him that you should be fined for running trucks with excess load. Tum lalchi bante ho aur kehte ho hi unko punish karo (You get greedy and suggest that the consignee should be penalised). That will not be correct. We will charge you and we will punish you. Without that you can’t understand. There is a problem — there is no fear or respect of law,” he said.

The Minister admitted that the transporters still face the problem of getting permission from state government agencies and RTOs.

He said corruption in the transport sector is still an issue. But that can be addressed with the cooperation of the state government as transport and transport sector-related enforcement fall under the Concurrent List of the Constitution.

“We need to have a digitised system across the country,” he added.

Gadkari has said there should be an organisation, especially for the Indian construction equipment manufacturing industry, which can research and give appropriate technology for the future as futuristic planning is very important, like ARAI in the automobile sector.

He said without economic viability, technology is not useful and asked manufacturers to concentrate on fuel efficiency.

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