Bhubaneswar: More than 200 heavy vehicles were penalised for violating safety standards during a special drive across the state in 12 hours.
The Transport department launched a massive drive against the vehicles flouting motor vehicle (MV) rules across the state from 8 pm on Thursday to 8 am on Friday.
During the drive, the enforcement squad of State Transport Authority checked 1,858 vehicles like hyva, tipper, dumpers and others, carrying sand, fly ash, chips and other materials. Out of those vehicles, 218 were penalised for not complying with the safety standards and 98 vehicles were seized for the MV offences.
Some of the vehicles did not have Rear Under-Ride Protection Device (RUPD) & Side Under-ride Protection Device (SUPD) for which fatal accidents are taking place for side and rear collision. Many of the vehicles did not have back light, brake light and side indicator lamps. Fitness Certificate (FC) of such vehicles were cancelled.
Around 110 vehicles were found to be overloaded and 78 vehicles were driving with excess speed. The vehicles plying with overload were detained and the excess load was offloaded after compounding of challan. It was found that the braking system and steering system of some of those vehicles were not working effectively due to overloading.
These vehicles were mostly driven by persons having no valid driving licence and often by helpers in reckless manner. During checking, it was found that 139 drivers did not have valid driving licence.
As many as 64 vehicles were plying without valid tax, while 70 did not have valid permit and 75 did not have valid insurance. In some cases the drivers were found driving under influence of alcohol.
