Vehicles’ overloading menace has been in constant discussions in Haryana leading to ruckus in assembly several times as well as requiring the state government to come up with stringent actions against those involved in breach of norms. The vehicles carrying material and good exceeding limit used to cause revenue loss of the state government necessitating the concerned department to tighten the noose around the neck defaulters. In a bid to control overloading, the government delegated the powers to the officials of the Mining and Transport Department of issuing challans. Considering the imperative need for expanded enforcement capacities across the state, the State Cabinet had approved the extension of challan powers to Transport Inspectors under Rule 225 of the Haryana Motor Vehicles Rules 1993.Besides ,overloaded vehicles coming from neighboring Rajasthan are continuously resulting in problems on the part of commoners resulting in accidents. In wake of this, the Haryana government had recently raised objection regarding this while discussing the issue with the Rajasthan government. In this series, the government had instructed Haryana State Enforcement Bureau (HSEnB) to take necessary steps to curb overloading.
The officials statistics of the HSEnB revealed that vehicles are being checked continuously to keep an close eye on defaulters by the Bureau and as many as 22708 vehicles have been checked in all the districts in the year 2023, . During checking, 13153 vehicles found violating the rules were confiscated. The maximum number of vehicles seized are in Hisar district and there 1416 vehicles have been seized for violation of rules. Similarly, a total of 1177 vehicles have been seized in Jind district for breaching the norms. Likewise 1073 vehicles in Ambala, 848 in Fatehabad, 947 in Faridabad and 804 in Sirsa 771 in Panipat, 763 in Karnal, 667 in Rohtak, 647 in Palwal, 608 in Jhajjar and 602 in Charkhi Dadri have been seized. Remaining districts do emerged in the list with below 500 impounded vehicles each.
It is pertinent to mention that districts with maximum mining along with commercial and industry activities, are witnessing maximum incidents of overloading. According to the information received from the Bureau, strict action also has been ensured against vehicles being used for transportation without permits and the list of vehicles remained subject to stern action includes a sizable chunk of those vehicle owner who have not got their vehicles’ permit renewed. As many a 683 vehicles were found plying on the roads without permits. Of these, the highest number of 502 vehicles without permits have been reported in Millennium City Gurugram alone followed by adjacent Nuh district with 168 vehicles without permits. Apart from this, 8 vehicles in Rohtak, 3 in Rewari and 2 in Ambala reported without permit.
Senior IPS and ADGP Arshinder Singh Chawla, who holds the portfolio of the chief of HSEnB said that the bureau is continuously increasing the checking of vehicles to curb overloading talking stringent action against those involved in breach of norms. Besides,, vehicles coming from adjoining states are on radar to ensure the compliance of rules and regulations. Apart from imposing fines on those who do not follow the rules, vehicles are also being seized along with issuing challans, he added.
Haryana Enforcement Bureau has also imposed heavy fines on vehicles found breaking the rules. Further, the statistics revealed that a penalty of of Rs 5264 lakh (52.64 crore) has been imposed on vehicles violating the rules. It is noteworthy a maximum penalty of f Rs 581 lakh has been imposed on vehicles in Ambala. followed by penalty of Rs 480.02 in Jind, Rs 443.75 in Hisar, Rs 394.95 lakh in Gurugram, Rs 356.11 lakh in Faridabad and Rs 284.81 lakh in Rewari respectively. In continuation to aforementioned, it is pertinent to mention that recently in view of a surge in cases of overloading in Charkhi Dadri district, it was decided that a task force will be formed under the chairmanship of Deputy Commissioner (DC) including officials from Mining Department, Pollution Board, RTA, SDM, DSP and these officials will have to submit an action taken report twice a month to DC. Apart from this, at the end of last year, the government has issued orders to six different officers of the state to deal with overloading in Charkhi Dadri.
Seeing the casual approach of the officers and unbridled overloading, disciplinary action was recommended to the Transport Commissioner against the Faridabad and Narnaul District Transport Officer. The matter was raised in the meeting of the District Grievance Redressal Committee and after this, the transport officers of Faridabad, Narnaul, Karnal, Hisar, Nuh and Rewari districts were put on special duty for checking in Charkhi Dadri by the government. It is pertinent to mention that the state concerned department has fixed the capacity of vehicles to carry goods and other materials. Vehicles with 10 tires can carry 28000 kg weight while vehicles with 12 tires, vehicles with 14 tires, vehicles with 16 tires and vehicles with 22 tires can carry 35000 kg, 42000 kg, 47500 kg and 55000 kg weight respectively. If the load exceeds the prescribed limit, action will be taken against the driver. Apart from this, if one ton overload is found, a fine of Rs 22 thousand will be imposed.