Most axle load control machines inoperative

The authorities are yet to make axle load control machines functional.
As a result, important roads and highways across the country are being damaged heavily due to plying of overloaded vehicles.
The Roads and Highways Department formulated an axle load policy in 2012 to guide all concerned in checking plying of overloaded vehicles as there were complaints of having no uniform directives in this regard.
But sources said after all these years, hardly movement of any overloaded vehicle could be controlled.
Almost all the vehicles have continued carrying goods three to four times more than allowable weights causing loss of billions of taka in terms of damage to road infrastructure as, every now and then, weighing machines turn inoperative.
The Ministry of Road Transport and Bridges (MoRTB) held an inter-ministerial meeting last month to find solutions in this regard but is yet to make any headway. The Bangladesh Road Transport Authority recently issued a notice to rebuild bodies of trucks and covered vans by December as per specification of respective vehicles so that they could not carry excess goods.
But sources said there is hardly any development in this regard.
Sources said amid such a situation, the MoRTB has decided to introduce the provision of fines in the axle load policy, once opposed on the ground that the policy has no scope of introducing amount of fines as it is only a guideline.
Ministry officials, however, said the decision to introduce fines in the policy was taken as the authorities could not even manage the overloaded parts of the goods which are removed from trucks at stations when machines are operative.
As most of the stations do not have godowns or storages for keeping overloaded goods, operators let the drivers go taking bribes.
The officials said this time an order from the finance minister was taken to charge fines from all vehicles taking goods more than the permissible level according to the number of axle or wheels.
According to official record until July, eight axle load control stations were set up in seven places on the country's busy national highways since the policy was issued in 2012.
Of these, only three were in operation with limited scales. Other stations remained inoperative since long due to damage of machines and non-availability of spares parts.
On August 23, an inoperative axle load machine set up at Sitakundo towards Dhaka was set on fire allegedly by workers.
Sources said axle load stations in Sylhet and northern parts of the country hardly remain operative as these routes are used mostly for heavy goods like stones and coals.
According to the revision of the policy, rate of fines from Tk 2,000 to Tk 12,000 has been fixed for vehicles that cross permissible slabs from 0.01 per cent to 25 per cent.
Fines are doubled and multiplied as vehicles violate the slabs.
The policy proposes four slabs to carry goods according to the number of axles of vehicles.
An official of the ministry said the inter-ministerial meeting, however, suggested to set up weighing machines at starting points of journey so that there is no more difficulty over storage of extra goods in different stations.
"Our motive is not to collect money for damaged roads. The fine has been introduced to stop overloading, ' he said preferring not to be named.
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