The three Regional Transport Officers and five Motor Vehicle Inspectors in the city have intensified their crackdown on road users for various forms of violations.
On an average, not less than Rs.7 lakh is collected as tax and Rs.4 lakh is collected as fine by RTOs from road users during surprise inspections.
“In a month, we conduct surprise inspections on 20-25 days. Based on instructions from the Transport Commissioner’s office, we allocate specific dates to inspect different categories of vehicles,” says J.K. Baskaran, RTO, Madurai Central.
According to him, omni-buses and goods carriers were the major road tax defaulters. “Most of the vehicles that evade tax payment are omni-buses from other States that are plying in Tamil Nadu. Several goods carriers also violate permit conditions,” Mr. Bhaskaran adds.
The surprise inspections conducted from June to August this year helped the department collect over Rs.30 lakh default tax and more than Rs.13 lakh fine.
The violations range from not having fitness certificates, driving licence, not obtaining permits, having incorrect number plates and not obtaining ‘no pollution’ certificates, officials state.
In the three months, a total of 118 auto-rickshaws were seized by the officials. “The action was taken for overloading of auto-rickshaws, haphazard halting of the vehicles at bus stops and not having fitness certificates,” says K. Kalyanakumar, RTO, Madurai North.
To retrieve the auto-rickshaws, the drivers have to pay Rs.4,000 and it takes a week. The department has decided to suspend permits of vehicles that are found overloaded, the officials say.
Despite cracking the whip against several violations, the officials are unable to enforce the compulsory helmet rule in the city.
“Two-wheeler users are mainly fined by police authorities for usage of mobile phones while driving. We are conducting awareness programmes of the importance of wearing helmets,” Mr. Kalyanakumar adds.
Officials also state that instructions have been issued to mini bus operators to ply the buses only from the omni-bus terminus in Mattuthavani.
