Overloaded vehicles to pay up to 4 times the toll; reporting to Vahan now mandatory

NEW DELHI: Siphoning or under-reporting toll revenue from overloaded vehicles on national highways will be impossible from April 15 (Wednesday). Toll collecting agencies will collect higher user charges from overloaded vehicles only via FASTag, and they must record such vehicles and report this to the government’s Vahan portal.

The provision of reporting overloading to the Vahan portal is significant, as this will enable enforcement agencies to impose penalties for violation of the motor vehicle law. As per the updated MV Act of 2019, the penalty for overloading goods vehicles is Rs 20,000, and it also provides for an additional fine of Rs 2,000 per tonne for excess load.

The road transport ministry on Tuesday issued a notification amending the NH User Fee Rules, which said that while overloading up to 10% will be allowed, vehicles with 10-40% overload will have to pay double the normal, and it will be four times in case overloading is more than 40%.

The ministry said overloading will be determined using certified weight measurement devices installed at the fee plaza. It added that no overload fee shall be levied in cases where fee plazas don’t have weighing facilities.

It said that provisions won’t apply to certain private investment projects executed prior to commencement, unless concessionaires consent to adopting the revised rules. In an official statement, the ministry said the amendment to toll fee rules is expected to improve compliance, reduce road damage caused by overloaded vehicles, and promote safer and more efficient movement of goods across NHs.