Overloaded vehicles to pay up to 4 times the toll; reporting to Vahan now mandatory | India News
NEW DELHI: From April 15 (Wednesday), it will be impossible to increase or underreport toll revenue from overloaded vehicles on national highways. Toll collecting agencies will collect higher user charges from overloaded vehicles only through FASTag and must record such vehicles and report them on the government’s vehicle portal.The provision to report overloading on the vehicle portal is significant, as it will enable enforcement agencies to levy penalties for violations of the Motor Vehicle Act. As per the updated MV Act of 2019, the penalty for overloaded goods vehicles is Rs 20,000, and it provides an additional penalty of Rs 2,000 per tonne for excess load.The road transport ministry on Tuesday issued a notification amending the NH user fee rules, stating that overloading up to 10% will be allowed, vehicles with 10-40% overload will have to pay double the normal and if the overloading is more than 40% it will be four times.The ministry said overloading will be determined using certified weighing devices installed at toll plazas. It added that no overload fee will be charged in cases where there is no weighing facility at the fee plazas.It said the provisions will not apply to certain private investment projects carried out before commencement, unless the concessionaires agree to accept the revised rules. In an official statement, the ministry said the revision of toll fee rules is expected to improve compliance, reduce road damage due to overloaded vehicles and promote safer and more efficient movement of goods across the NH.
