New Delhi: The greed of transporters is the prime cause of dangerously overloaded vehicles on Indian roads according to Transport Minister Nitin Gadkari. Speaking at an event organised by the Hydraulic Trailer Owners Association, Gadkari said, “I will continue to penalise the transporters for overloaded vehicles on the roads. These overloaded vehicles would not have been there on Indian roads if it was not for the greed of the transporters.”
Gadkari was responding to requests from transporters to penalise the goods or material owners that hail the services of overloaded vehicles.
“Why do you allow the movement of such overloaded trucks? I will continue to charge you. Without that there is no reform. There is no fear or honour towards the law,” he said.
Commenting on the compliance burden on the transporters industry, Gadkari said, “To get permission, there is lot of corruption. Our motto is to digitise processes to reduce corruption. But unfortunately, the subject is in the concurrent list, the state and centre are both responsible for that. I will need the cooperation of states to go ahead with reforms.”
Gadkari said that he is aware that transporters are facing problems because of the Regional Transport Office (RTO) departments under the state governments. “The process of inspections and getting permits is very problematic and creating more corruption. That’s the reason we need to have a digitalised system,” said.
Highlighting the infrastructure push of the centre, Gadkari said that there is a plan to connect all ports and districts of the country with four lane roads.