TAXILA: The National Highways and Motorway Police (NHMP) have implemented the ‘Axle Load Control Regime’ on motorways and national highways from Wednesday.

This was stated by Deputy Inspector General (DIG) North Ashfaq Ahmed Khan during his visit to the weigh station near Haro toll plaza and the motorway police beat office in Taxila on Wednesday.

The DIG stated that on the directives of high court, the excel load control regime will be strictly implemented from Nov 15, and there will be heavy fines on overweight vehicles. Besides, the extra weight will also be removed and no one will be spared.

“Overloaded vehicles are damaging roads across Pakistan, for which there is a strong need to implement axle load control on highways,” he added.

Mr Khan said that all stakeholders had been informed in this regard. He said, the sole objective of this move was to control the traveling of overloaded vehicles, which lead to fatal accidents, besides damaging road network of billions of rupees.

Billions of rupees were spent on the construction and maintenance of motorways and national highways, he said.

Moreover, implementation of this law is mandatory as the axle load control regime is provided in Highway Safety Ordinance 2000, so that the interest or desire of anybody cannot be prioritised.

The DIG along with NHMP Sector Commander M-2 North Ashiq Hussain Chohan, National Highway Authority (NHA) member finance, and other NHA officers were reviewing arrangements to ensure the axle load control regime on the Rawalpindi-Peshawar G.T. Road near Hassanabdal.

Published in Dawn, November 16th, 2023