Install speed governors on all heavy goods vehicles within a month, Udupi Deputy Commissioner tells RTO

Udupi Deputy Commissioner T.K. Swaroopa on Wednesday directed Transport Department officials to ensure all heavy goods vehicles registered and plying in the district are fitted with speed governors within a month.

Chairing the District Road Safety Committee meeting at Rajatadri, the district office complex in Manipal, Ms. Swaroopa said the Regional Transport Officer (RTO) was directed in the previous meeting to implement speed governors for 3,785 heavy goods vehicles, with six or more wheels, in the district. Only about 1,952 vehicles have so far been fitted with speed governors, she noted and directed the RTO to strictly implement the rule for the remaining vehicles within a month.

The Deputy Commissioner noted that overloading of ready-mix concrete vehicles was causing concrete to spill onto roads and damage them. Overloading of sand transport vehicles was inconveniencing the public and causing accidents. In the last three months, 1,569 vehicles were inspected, 15 cases were registered and ₹3.33 lakh was collected as fines. She suggested that strict action be taken in this regard in the coming days as well.

Ms. Swaroopa said unauthorised roadside stalls, fast-food centres, pushcarts, and stalls in Udupi city area should be shifted to the six vending zones already identified by the City Municipal Council (CMC). She instructed CMC officials to take steps to quickly construct shelters in the designated zones.

Of the five major junctions in Udupi city, traffic signals have already been installed at Kalsanka Junction and Manipal Syndicate. She instructed officials to install signals at the remaining junctions as well as at the major junctions of Padubidri, Kota, Brahmavara and Kundapura in the district soon.

Although it was suggested in the previous meeting to check whether all private and government buses plying in the district have doors, this has not been done in full. She instructed RTO officials to provide information on whether all buses plying in the district have doors within two months.

Passengers in buses often throw empty water bottles while on the move, causing nuisance to other road users. Therefore, in order to give priority to cleanliness, instructions were given in the previous meeting to install dustbins in buses, but the officials concerned have not paid attention to this matter. Ms. Swaroopa instructed the KSRTC and the RTO to provide dustbins in all buses as soon as possible and submit a report.

The Deputy Commissioner noted that during the national highway works, some road dividers were left open to facilitate the work; but even after the work was completed, they were still open. They should be closed, she said. When people request median openings, the police, and the engineers concerned should jointly inspect the site and, if necessary, provide openings, she added.