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MOTORINDIA
l
June 2012
also an urgent need to check this
menace in the interest of road safety
and preventing damage to roads and
bridges.
Further, it must be ensured that the
authority to check overloading be
vested with Government organiza-
tions. Electronic weighbridges may
be introduced at all toll plazas to
be monitored and strictly enforced
by the local transport association in
conjunction with local RTOs.
Transporters and truckers are fac-
ing a lot of problems at the RTO lev-
el too. The RTOs, in collusion with
anti-social elements, charge vehi-
cles heavily on the pretext of check-
ing vehicle documents. Further, they
are charging money for no valid rea-
son even if everything is fine with
the vehicle documents.
Transporters are suffering also
from arbitrary sales tax and check-
post norms. There are cases when
vehicles are held up just for minor
issues. In such cases huge penalties
are levied without giving any notice
when transporters are really strug-
gling to make ends meet.
Transporters are just carrying con-
signments/goods from one place to
another and are nowhere involved in
their purchase or sale. The bills and
documents are provided by the con-
signor / consignee
and the transporter
has no author-
ity / mechanism to
check their authen-
ticity or correct-
ness. Yet the trans-
porter is detained
for a minimum of
seven to 15 days in
case an error is de-
tected in the documents.
The vehicle impounded by the
sales tax staff should be released
within 48 hours. The inventory re-
port should be furnished alongwith
the receipt of the tax and penalty
with full details, so that the trans-
porter could recover the amount
from the parties concerned.
In the current scenario there is
absolute scarcity of trained drivers
for commercial vehicles. At least 15
per cent of the vehicles are remain-
ing idle due lack of trained driv-
ers. Moreover, there is total lack
of trained manpower in the sector.
Strangely enough, there is as yet no
Government move to set up driver
training schools with adequate infra-
structure.
Need for truck terminal
A lot of emphasis
is being laid on de-
velopment of infra-
structure. SEZs are
being planned in
almost every State.
This would lead
to a remarkable
increase in move-
ments of trucks in
and out of these
States. This renders
it essential to have
truck terminals / logistics parks at
strategic locations in every State.
At present there is no parking
space available, and the trucks com-
ing from across the country have to
park on the highways, leading to
traffic problems and even accidents.
The AIMTC proposal envisages the
setting up of a truck terminal where
trucks may be stationed. This would
reduce road congestion and the re-
lated problems.
Basic highways amenities
The country is developing high-
ways and expressways in a big way.
As a result, the number of road ac-
cidents is on the increase. The high-
ways should be access-controlled,
especially near villages/towns. They
must have service roads and sub-
ways wherever required. This is par-
ticularly necessary for expressways
built under the BOT scheme.
Cranes and ambulances may be
provided at a distance of 50 km on
each of the completed stretches of
National Highways. In this task, the
State and district transport associa-
tions as well as NGOs may be roped
in under the National Highway Ac-
cident Relief Service Scheme.
w
road transportation