SHILLONG, March 13: Opposition Congress on Saturday alleged that timber-laden trucks are not weighed on the weighbridges, which has, in turn, contributed to the deterioration of roads on the highways.
Pointing out that the transportation goes unchecked due to dearth of manpower and weighbridges, Congress MLA from Umroi, George B Lyngdoh, said, “There is only one weighbridge at 8th Mile Jowai, there is only one weighbridge in the entire Amlarem area and the weighbridges also do not weigh timber-laden trucks. These are all the problems in the system and unless it is checked, neither the roads can be maintained nor the loss of revenue can be checked”.
Stating that the deplorable condition of highways bears witness to the plying of overladen vehicles, he said, “There is a mechanism for all roads with regard to the limit on the weights. The rules should be adhered to.”
“Now what is happening across the state is that suddenly we are seeing these overladen vehicles, which means there is a loss of revenue, destruction of road, unchecked transportation of raw materials whether it is timber or limestone boulders,” he added.
Informing that the Congress had brought the issue to the notice of the Assembly in the last session, he said, “In this particular session too, we had kept questions. However, the questions could not come up for discussion”.
Urging the state government to look into the issues, he maintained that the height of dumper trucks has now been increased by two-three feet, thereby allowing additional loads.