SHILLONG, July 31: The High Court of Meghalaya on Monday said it was incomprehensible that the state government had failed to take steps to install weigh-pads to check overloaded vehicles plying all over Meghalaya despite indicating the same in its report filed on July 19.
Continuing its hearing on a PIL filed by Tennydard M. Marak, the bench of Chief Justice Sanjib Banerjee and Justice Wanlura Diengdoh said the idea (of weigh-pads) is to ensure that the transportation of illegally-mined coal in overloaded trucks is arrested along with boulders being ferried beyond the load-bearing capacities of the national and the state highways, adding the state’s focus should be on such aspects, particularly now that in certain other areas, the state has been more pro-active than in the previous 18 months to stop the illegal business of coal.
“Hopefully, some of the weigh-pads would also have been installed by the time the matter appears next and both the petitioner and the state will indicate the places where such weigh-pads have been installed and the other weigh-pads are proposed to be installed,” the court said.
The state government submitted that 23 weighbridges have been made operational and are being used regularly to keep a tab on overloaded vehicles.
When the court queried as to the present status of the weigh-pads, the state submitted that the supply orders for the weigh-pads have not been issued yet.
When the petitioner submitted that even the report filed by the state on July 19 may not be in consonance with the previous directions passed, the court said, “It will be open to the petitioner to ascertain whether, and to what extent, the 23 weighbridges which are said to be operational are functioning.”
