Another incident of a truck driver fined heavily has emerged for violating traffic rules after the introduction of the new Motor Vehicle Act. A truck driver identified as Ram Kishan was issued a challan of Rs 2,00,500 near Mukarba Chowk in Delhi, on Thursday, September 12.

The highest amount fined yet

It has emerged that the truck driver was handed a challan of Rs 56,000 for overloading and Rs 70,000 for other violations. The owner of the truck was fined Rs 74,500 for various violations, with the total amounting to a staggering Rs 2,00,500. The truck owner paid the total amount of the fine. After the amendment to the Motor Vehicle Act, the penalty for overloading was increased from Rs 2,000 to Rs 20,000. The charges for the extra weight were also increased from Rs 1,000 per tonne to Rs 2,000 per tonne. This amount fined is believed to be the highest since the amended MV Act was implemented.

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Hefty fines making headlines

A few days ago, a truck driver in Rajasthan was fined a Rs 1.41 lakh by the Rohini Circle police. In another incident, a truck driver carrying a JCB machine in Odisha was fined Rs 86, 500 for violating several traffic rules on September 3. The fine was broken down into various charges like penalised for allowing an unauthorized person to drive (Rs 5,000), driving without a license (Rs 5,000), overloading with an excess of 18 tonnes (Rs 56,000), carrying over dimension projections (Rs 20,000) and general offence (Rs 500). The truck was owned by a Nagaland-based private company called BLA Infrastructure Private Limited. After negotiating with the authorities for over five hours the driver paid a penalty of Rs. 70,000.

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Union Minister Nitin Gadkari Justifies MV Act

Last week, Nitin Gadkari, the Union Minister of Road Transport and Highways spoke about the hike in penalties and said the new Motor Vehicles Act will force people to follow the law. He also shared that the new rules were meant for maintaining the safety of commuters. Gadkari assured the citizens that the motive of the MV Act is not the collection of fines but the safety of people.

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