Strict action will be taken to stop overloading

With the overloading menace causing accidents resulting in casualties across the State, the assistant regional transport officer (ARTO) Dehradun, Arvind Pandey made it clear that stringent actions would be taken against the vehicle owners if the vehicles are found carrying passengers beyond their capacity. “Such vehicles would be seized and the licences of the errant drivers would be cancelled,” he said while talking to The Pioneer on Tuesday. Notably, at least 48 people were killed in a major road accident in Pauri Garhwal on Sunday as the overloaded bus upturned while swerving to avoid potholes on the road.

He said that such overloading-triggered accidents are also happening in the city and the district. “Any kind of overloading is against the laws. However, to earn extra, the drivers take more passengers than are permitted and invite accidents to happen. This menace must be stopped at any cost. We are clamping down on the vehicles indulging in the menace and stringent actions are being take against the errant drivers. Not just the vehicles are impounded and the licences are cancelled but heavy penalties are being slapped on those found on the wrong side of the laws,” he said.

Quizzed over whether the police are empowered to slap  chalans on such vehicles, Pandey said that overloading being a crime, police are fully empowered to slap penalties. “What happens is that a joint task force consisting of the officers of police, transport department and the administration checks things on the roads. Besides, the Sub-Divisional Magistrate has also the authority to slap chalans on the overloaded vehicles,” he said.

Queried over the criteria of the fitness of the vehicle as per the rules of the regional transport office (RTO), he said that the new vehicles are certified as fit by the department for two years while the old ones are provided fitness certificates for one year. “They must be subjected to the fitness tests after the term is over. In case they are found unfit they are not allowed to go on the roads,” he said.

Asked why overloading is rampant in the hill areas, he said that this was because of the weakness of the public transport system there. “Some bus owners use this to their advantage,” he said. He asked the people to be wary of the overloaded vehicles. “They should refrain from boarding vehicles which are overloaded. Besides, the State Government is augmenting the present fleet of the State Transport Corporation by adding new buses to solve the problem of overloading,” he said.