Fight against ‘heavy’ trucks gets a boost

NEW DELHI: Come Monday, all overloaded trucks entering the capital through Badarpur border on NH-2 will be checked through weigh-in motion (WIM) machines. These machines will give an accurate weight, based on which the fine will be calculated.

Currently, the enforcement wing of Delhi government’s transport department apprehends ‘visibly’ overloaded trucks, which are then taken to nearby weighing scale facility for a weight check.

The WIM machine, however, will help authorities detect the exact weight of a truck as it passes over the machine installed near toll plazas. These machine have been installed by the National Highway Authority of India (NHAI) and five teams of the transport department’s enforcement wing will prosecute trucks found overloaded.

“The machines are already installed at quite a few toll plazas at entry points to Delhi but now we will coordinate with the transport department, which has the authority to prosecute overloaded trucks,” said a senior NHAI official.

The WIM machines capture the exact weight of a truck as soon as it passes over it. “Overloaded trucks will have to pay 10 times the toll tax and the extra weight will have to offloaded,” a transport department official said. “There is, however, a lack of space at toll plazas for goods to be offloaded and for that, a way has to be found out,” he added.

Ten other teams will prosecute overloaded trucks at other entry points as part of a special drive from Monday, from 10pm to 6am.

Approximately one lakh goods vehicles, including trucks of all sizes, enter the capital daily through its 11 primary entry points. “Overloaded trucks add to air pollution in the city as emissions from such vehicles is significantly higher than trucks weighing within the prescribed limits,” said a transport department official.

Overloaded trucks are penalised for excess weight and while the prescribed limit is 16 tonnes for smaller trucks, 25 tonnes for trucks with 10 tyres and 35 tonnes for trucks with 14 tyres, they are usually found to be weighing over 50 tonnes. As the weighing capacity at private facilities, where these trucks are taken, is limited, it becomes difficult to calculate the exact excess weight of trucks , said the official.

The official said after Badarpur border, WIM machines at other entry points would also be activated soon. “Currently, overloaded trucks are let off after a fine, we are planning that the excess goods should be offloaded in separate trucks at the cost of the transporter, before being let inside the city,” he said.