State transport minister Snehasish Chakraborty has stressed upon road safety, increase in tax collection and bringing in transparency in operations of all the check-posts at a high-level meeting with the transport department and other top officials of five south Bengal districts at City Centre in Durgapur, yesterday.
Transport secretary Saumitra Mohan was also present at the meeting in which RTO’s and other top officials of the district transport department were present.
The officials of Birbhum, Bankura, Purulia, West and East Burdwan were present at the meeting. Subhas Mondal, chairman of South Bengal State Transport Corporation (SBSTC), DM of West Burdwan, S Ponnambalam, SDM of Durgapur, Saurav Chatterjee, chairman of Asansol Durgapur Development Authority (ADDA), Kabi Dutta were also present.
It has been decided in the meeting that to increase the revenue of the state government, the RTA will not allow plying of overloaded trucks on the roads. In future the truck association will also be called in a meeting to convey the state government’s decision, sources said.
From fines imposed on overloaded vehicles, the state government has increased its revenue collection from Rs 2,500 crore to Rs 4,000 crore.
It has been directed to start surveillance on the roads to identify the vehicles operating with state registration, road tax and permit. The pool cars will also be inspected to enhance safety of the school students.
Unauthorised totos will not be allowed to ply on the streets.
“We are taking drives on the directives of our chief minister Mamata Banerjee and monitoring is on throughout the state. We are trying to find out the sources of the overloading vehicles plying on the roads and highways of the state,” said transport minister Snehasish Chakraborty.
The transport minister also said that for setting up an inter-state state-of-the-art bus terminal in Durgapur, he has urged the Asansol Durgapur Development Authority (ADDA) to send a detail project report (DPR).
Assistance of enforcement wing of the state is also being taken to check overloading of sand-loaded trucks from Ajay and Damodar rivers in Birbhum, West Burdwan and Bankura, the minister added. He said that in the coming days, more officials will be increased to stop the over-loading as the roads are getting affected.
In the last financial year, the state earned Rs 274 crore profit from check-posts through the Suvidha portal.