Overloaded trucks running amok and killing innocent road users and even the employees who are driving the vehicles are making news again and again in different parts of the state. However, inspite of stringent rules stipulated by the Supreme Court of India, State Government is yet to implement strictly the rules against the overloaded trucks or trailers and rein them, especially those carrying weight beyond the permissible limit.

Besides causing fatal mishaps, they also damage the road infrastructure a study by CRRI last year showed that trucks carrying 50% more weight than allowed dent the road 16 times more than that caused by trucks carrying permissible load. These overloaded trucks also cause severe damage to roads, both National Highways and the smaller roads.
Despite these glaring glitches, the government is sitting on major amendments which would have checked the menace. Sample this: Though the Carriage by Road Act has the provision of booking the transport agents for overloading and the Motor Vehicle Amendment Bill has omitted the provision of allowing extra load after levying a charge, the government has delayed formulation of rules under the Act and introduction of the amendment Bill in the Parliament.

"Accidents on our roads caused by trucks is happening primarily due to lax enforcement of laws. There are clear provisions in the Central Motor Vehicle Act which state that when a truck is caught for overloading, the state must give a notice to the driver and the offence be endorsed on the vehicle permit. The state which has issued the permit should also be informed. But hardly these are followed,'' said S P Singh, senior fellow and coordinator of Indian Foundation of Transport Research and Training (IFTRT).

He added had the law been enforced, permits of many habitual offenders would have been revoked. Similarly, the MV Act also mentions that a driver's licence can be revoked if he commits nuisance on roads overloading is also considered a nuisance.

Singh said their study has shown that over 70 to 80 percent of the total trucks and heavy goods carriages registered in the city indulge in overloading. "We even spotted overloaded trucks and trailers plying in different parts of the State In majority of cases, these offences are compounded by local authorities,'' Singh claimed.
Some transport owners have noble way to get away from the actions of RTO officials. They come individually or collectively to load the vehicles from industrial houses and leave in a fleet of 10-20 at a time, virtually intimidating the vehicles and law-enforcing agencies. It is also found that they are not paying taxes to several departments. Some of them are running on old permissions which are no longer valid. The drive also included checks on old and infirm vehicles with poor lighting and brakes.
Owners of the trailers and truckers are direct contacts with RTO officials and they are giving bribes to them to pass these trucks and trailers without taking any actions on them and that is why vehicle owners are daring to carry overloaded vehicles from Nashik to Pune and Mumbai without fearing the laws. Some fleet owners are making even monthly haftas to some bigwigs in the RTO and political fields to continue this type of overloading during day and night. It is high time Anti Corruption Bureau to swing into action to book the corrupted officials. It is high time that higher transport department authorities to step up strict vigil, take unscrupulous operators and officials so that major accidents due to overloaded vehicles do not happens and the damage to roads are getting minimized.