Sand lorry owners say govt depts have them in a bind

CHENNAI: Private sand lorry owners are crying foul, saying they are being made to pay penalties because two government agencies are working at cross purposes.
While the public works department (PWD) which, on record, operates river sand mines, insists on overloading trucks to meet their daily targets, transport department impounds vehicles and impose penalty on transporters.Squeezed by both the government agencies, now transporters have raised a demand for the resignation of the transport minister.
Ever since state government took over river sand mining activities in 2003, only the PWD has the authority to mine and sell sand. It, however, engages ‘loading contractors’ who are mandated to deploy men and machinery at the mine inside riverbeds and quarry/load trucks line up for several kilometres. Having to meet certain daily targets fixed by authorities, PWD officials and loading contractors dump extra sand on trucks for a fee.
“When we enter the quarry, we have no choice but to take at least 15 tonnes extra,” said Yuvaraj. With no time to resist or hold negotiations for reducing load at mining point, lorries end up carrying tonnage much beyond the permitted limit, compromising on vehicular stability and road safety. When a lorry is overloaded, the driver has lesser control over the vehicle and there is higher probably of tyre burst. Wear and tear of parts are also faster, resulting in vehicles not in top conditions to be on the road, say transporters.
After two-wheelers, trucks are the biggest killers in the country. Of the 1.37 lakh road deaths in 2013, 17% or 24,081 deaths were caused by trucks across the country.
An engineer from PWD, on the condition of anonymity, however, said there were no such violations on the part of the department. “All lorries are loaded with exactly 10.5 tonnes or 200 cubic feet of sand. These lorry owners are trying to find excuses for increasing accidents,” he said.
A PWD engineer said there no such violations. “All lorries are loaded with exactly 10.5 tonnes or 200 cubic feet of sand. These lorry owners are trying to find excuses for increasing accidents,” he said.
For stone and granite lorry drivers, it gets worse. “Our trailer trucks which carry granite can carry a maximum of 49 tonnes, but end up carrying 80 tonnes most of the time and even up to 120 tonnes,” said R Sugumaran, president of Tamil Nadu Lorry Owners Federation. This federation has about 3.5 lakh lorries that transport granites, cement and iron. “Every single lorry that enters the port is invariably overloaded,” he added. These lorries get the material from districts like Krishnagiri and Dharmapuri to Chennai.
In January last year, the regional transport office started a cracked down on erring lorry owners and collected a fine of 2,000 plus costs to remove the excess load. Six months later, in June, the fine was increased to 1 per extra kg. “In total, each lorry ends up paying a fine of at least 7,000,” said Yuvaraj.