SHILLONG/JOWAI: The Meghalaya Commercial Truck Owners and Operators Association (MCTA), has expressed concern over the efficiency of the Transport department and the weighbridges besides checkpoints at Umtyra, East Jaintia Hills and Ri Bhoi district.
The association has alleged that the transport department officials posted at government checkpoint which was set up specifically for weighing trucks entering and leaving the cement factories seem to encourage illegal overloading of cement and clinker laded trucks and called these checkpoints as “corruption dens”.
MCTA has lauded the efforts of police personnel from Ummulong outpost West Jaintia Hills, who caught a six wheeler truck bearing registration number ML 10 5774, carrying 480 bags of cement from Dalmia Cement factory to be delivered to Byrnihat on Friday.
Ummulong police has registered a case against the driver of the six wheeler cement truck under appropriate section of MV Act also in violation of the Supreme Court ruling on transportation of goods beyond permissible capacity. The permissible weight as per the Motor Vehicles Act, 1988, and also various Supreme Court ruling, is 9 metric tonnes for a six wheeler.
However, the truck was found to be carrying 24 metric tonnes which is 15 metric tonnes more than the permissible limit.
In this context, the association said, “It is high time for the transport department to review the function of its various checkpoints or weighbridges and do away with those unnecessary ones”. It added that overloaded cement and clinker trucks are plying through NH 44 on a daily basis, as a result of which, the roads are damaged. Hence, it urged the commissioner of transport to take moral responsibility for this lapse and wanted him to act immediately to contain overloaded trucks through his subordinate officers.
The truck owners’ body also commented on the recent efforts by the West Jaintia Hills district administration to detect overloaded trucks which were futile as no police forces were provided to them. It also said that boulder laden trucks going to Bangladesh are highly overloaded but they escape the district administration, police and the transport checkpoints undetected. “This has not only affected the state exchequer but also damaged the condition of the newly built road”, the association said. The association recalled that just as the Home Minister HDR Lyngdoh recently said at a recent function at Jowai, MCTA agrees that PWD needs to maintain roads in proper condition along with the coordination between home and transport departments.
It also added that police force should be stationed at the checkpoints to invoke fear and assist transport officials in curbing such illegal activities.
