RTA introduces 'access cards'

HYDERABAD: The transport department introduced ‘access cards’ on Thursday to minimise checking of goods-carrying lorries and trucks. The move came in response to the long-standing demand of lorry owners and truck operators to minimise checking at multiple points in the state.
“From now on, lorry and truck operators will be checked only at the initial point even for the permitted load and issued the access cards,� Transport commissioner A Giridhar told The Times of India on Thursday.
Too many goods vehicles had been subjected to multiple checking and the chief minister had asked to devise ways for minimising checking and the introduction of access cards to lorry and truck operators is one such method, he said.
A holder of access card will not be checked at multiple points by motor vehicle inspectors. They will be checked only in the case of doubt by an official of the RTO cadre, he said.
The access card will not be a passport for carrying excess load; it would be issued only to law-abiding truck operators in the state, he said. Each class of vehicle has been permitted to carry a particular graph vehicular weight (GVW) and it differs from vehicle to vehicle. For instance, in the case of rigid axle vehicles, the permitted load will be about 16 tonnes, and in multiple axle vehicles about 40 tonnes and in majority of trucks about 25 tonnes, he said.
Earlier, a compounding fee of Rs 100 had been collected per quintal of excess overload but with the introduction of access card no excess load will be permitted, he said.