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  1,000 heavy vehicles on e-way fined in week

1,000 heavy vehicles on e-way fined in week

AGE CORRESPONDENT
Published : Apr 22, 2016, 2:03 am IST
Updated : Apr 22, 2016, 2:03 am IST

A total of 1,017 heavy vehicles have been fined on the 95-km-long Mumbai-Pune Expressway in the past week for not following proper lane discipline or not plying on the third lane, which is considered

A total of 1,017 heavy vehicles have been fined on the 95-km-long Mumbai-Pune Expressway in the past week for not following proper lane discipline or not plying on the third lane, which is considered as slow lane for the heavy vehicles to ply on.

The state highway police, in order to curb the menace of improper lane cutting and discipline on the Expressway, had initiated the safety drive last week.

“The safety drive was started on April 15 and it will end on May 15. We have fined 1,017 vehicles till Wednesday and have collected around Rs 1 lakh in fines,” said state highway police inspector Ajit Bartakke.

The safety drive is also being carried out on the Expressway along with the Navi Mumbai stretch and Pune district where the respective traffic police officials are levying fines on faulty lane cuttings.

“Heavy vehicles should always ply on the third lane and if they want to overtake any vehicle they can always use the second lane for that purpose, but when they ply on the first lane they are, in a way, violating the rules and also blocking other light motor vehicles from going ahead,” added Mr Bartakke.

The state highway police also updates the day-to-day details of people fined and the amount of fine collected to the Maharashtra State Road Development Corporation (MSRDC) which maintains the expressway and has also recently signed an MoU with various agencies to make the expressway a zero-fatality corridor in the next four years. The collaborators include Maharashtra Highway Police, IRB Infrastructure and NGO SaveLife Foundation and Mahindra Rise.

“Also, the state highway police is keeping an eye on the CCTV cameras from where they note heavy vehicles plate numbers and inform the nearest toll-booths to collect the fine amount which is Rs 100. While, patrolling too we never specifically stop heavy vehicles on the mid-way as it is dangerous to do the same on expressway. We simply note the plate number and inform the nearest toll booth,” said Mr Bartakke.