The law enforcing agencies in the National Capital are up against a major threat to the public safety at large. This threat comes from no terror outfit or the local gangs but unchecked operation of trucks on the Gurgaon-Faridabad Toll Road in blatant violation of law.
As the operator of the toll road claims, as many as 1,500 to 2,000 trucks without number plates are having a free run along the expressway every day and thus posing a grave risk to the public safety and security. There have been instances when heavy transport vehicles (HTVs) have been found operating with fake registration plates.
According to toll road operator, nearly 55,000 HTVs pass through the road every day, out of which nearly 4,500 to 5,000 vehicles are overloaded. Sources said there is no mechanism to check the genuineness of the vehicles and its drivers or owners on the spot.
What is more worrisome, Delhi Police has absolutely no clue of the activities going on despite frequent meetings of the inter-state coordination cell wherein officials of Delhi and neighbouring state police participate.
Sources also expressed apprehension that the vehicles without number plates could be used for terror activities or smuggling of drugs into Delhi and the neighbouring areas. Officials said the trucks plying on the toll road are mostly used for transporting crushed stones and boulders from a crusher zone located along the road. While a number of trucks enter Delhi, several others head for states like Rajasthan, Punjab and other cities of Haryana.
The toll operator, Gurgaon-Faridabad Toll Road (GFTR) Pvt. Ltd., has made repeated complaints to the regional transport and police officers, but in vain. The operator claimed the violations ranged from overloading to vehicles without registration plates, and also dumping of boulders on the road side and thus affecting the traffic flow.
"The trucks plying on this road are mostly overloaded, at times to the extent of double or triple their capacity. Plying of overloaded trucks will prematurely damage the road. The trucks plying on the road are often found without registration plate, which not only makes it difficult to issue toll fee receipt but also is a security hazard," GFTR officials said in a complaint to the transport department and the Faridabad police commissioner.
The officials claimed no action was ever initiated even as RTI queries to the regional transport office have revealed that some vehicles on the toll road were found plying with fake registration plates. An RTI reply dated December 17, 2014 by the Regional Transport Authority revealed that a truck entering the toll road with number HR 38T-3401 was actually allotted to an auto-rickshaw. Similarly, an HTV bearing number HR 38V-0806 was never issued to any vehicle by the authority. There are six police stations and police posts along the 66-km corridor, yet the authorities have failed to check this menace.
The locals alleged that the truck operators often dump boulders on the road whenever the police and transport department carry out checking of vehicles on the toll road.
Built at a cost of 800 crore, the Gurgaon-Faridabad corridor connects major tourist destinations, industrial zones, corporate offices and international airport terminal T3 of Delhi.
(indiatoday)
