Truck owners claim rule would lead to daily losses of Rs 30,000 on each truck, say implementation highly impractical
Truck owners claim rule would lead to daily losses of Rs 30,000 on each truck, say implementation highly impractical
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No speeding: Transporters say that till a uniform law on implementation
of speed governors is passed, they would have to suffer losses
The government had announced that speed governors would have to be installed in all commercial and transport vehicles from November 2. However, since then the matter has been in the eye of a storm and is currently before the Karnataka High Court.
General Secretary of All India Motor Transport Congress B V Narayanappa said, "The notification sets the speed limit to 65 km per hour, which is highly impractical, as the expressways and highways have a speed limit of 80 km. If we adhere to the new speed limit, how will we operate our services in other states?"
Increase losses
Implementation of speed governors will reportedly increase losses for goods carriers from the state, as well as for those plying through the state. "We will be losing Rs 30,000 per day on each truck plying in the state, besides, the commuting time will also increase considerably, resulting in loss of working hours," added Narayanappa.
Though the notification has been sent from the State Transport Department, they agree that the 65 km per hour norm is unfair.
Amend policy
"It was in 1989 that the speed limit of 65 km per hour was implemented in the transport policy. However, now we have faster expressways and highways, which is why we are trying to get into a dialogue with the ministry of road transport to amend the policy, so that the speed limit can be increased," said Shankarlinge Gowda, state principal secretary, transport.
While a change in the Central vehicle policy is yet to start, transporters across the country fear that until and unless there is a uniform law on the implementation of speed governors, they would continue to suffer losses.
"There is still a lot of confusion on how the rule is being implemented for other state carriers. We have been told that carriers from other states will also have to install speed governors while entering Karnataka. This is quite impractical," said C Sekaran of Chennai Goods Carrier Association.
He added, "With speed governors, the travel time from Chennai to Bangalore that is currently covered within six hours will now go up to nine hours."
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