TAXILA: The officials of the National Highway and Motorway Police (NHMP) on Monday spotted a number of overloaded trucks sneaking into the motorway by bribing the operator at the weighing station.

According to sources, the patrolling staff of the National Highway and Motorway Police, led by Patrolling Officer Rafiullah, was on briefing duty at the Fatehjang toll plaza on the Islamabad-Peshawar motorway (M-1) when they spotted five trucks overloaded with wheat sneaking into the motorway after passing through a weighing station.

The patrolling staff stopped them and brought them back to the weighing station, where it was detected that these five trucks were overloaded. On interrogation, the crew of these trucks disclosed that they exceeded their authorised load of goods and bribed the operator with Rs3,000 per truck at the weighing station.

Subsequently, officials of the National Highway and Motorway Police lodged a an FIR at Fatehjang police station against the truck drivers and operators at the weighing station. The National Highway and Motorway Police

announced to implement a comprehensive and 100 percent axle load control regime on motorways starting from Nov15.

When contacted to get comments over the issue, Chief Patrolling Officer NHMP M-1, Sher Mohammad said that three months ago, the same incident was detected by NH&MP staff, and subsequently, legal action was initiated against the truck’s staff. Replying to a question, he did not rule out the possibility of the involvement of some staff members of the National Highway and Motorway Police in this nexus.

He said that he monitors the activities of the staff as well as the weight of the goods carrying vehicles during patrol duty on the Islamabad-Peshawar motorway (M-1). He added that the full implementation of the axle load control regime across national highways will involve the imposition of substantial fines on vehicles exceeding the prescribed weight, coupled with stringent legal action.

Published in Dawn, January 2nd, 2024