Odisha truck driver fined ₹86,500, highest under new MV act

A truck driver in Odisha has been fined a whopping ₹86,500 for violation of traffic rules, the highest so far under the new Motor Vehicles Amendment act 2019.

The truck driver, Ashok Yadav, was fined on September 3 in Sambalpur district of Odisha, however, the picture of his challan went viral only last weekend.

Yadav was intercepted by RTO officials in Sambalpur when he was transporting a JCB machine from Talcher town of Odisha to Chhattisgarh.

He was penalised ₹5,000 for allowing an unauthorised person to drive the truck, ₹5,000 for not having driving licence, ₹56,000 for overloading with an excess of 18 tonnes, ₹20,000 for carrying over dimension projections and ₹500 for general offence.

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However, after over five hours of negotiation with the officials, he paid ₹70,000. This is the highest penalty recorded so far under the new motor vehicles act.

Odisha is among the states which implemented the amended motor vehicles act right since it was enforced on September 1. The state collected around ₹88 lakh from fines within the first four days of implementation of the act, which is again the highest in the country.

A similar incident was reported from the capital city of Bhubaneswar, where an auto driver was fined ₹47,500 rupees for drunken driving and for not having valid driving licence, registration and insurance certificates.

After reports surfaced that motorists were being harassed and wrongfully penalised by the officials, the state transport department set up a helpline number for addressing grievances and complaints of the public.

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