Enforcing laws can end hazardous truck travel

People sitting atop cargo or being transported in open trucks may be a common sight for many of us.

However, the recent shocking incident of some 100 labourers, including women and children, being rescued from a closed goods vehicle on the Agra-Delhi highway in Uttar Pradesh has brought to fore the need for strict enforcement of existing motor vehicle laws.

The Motor Vehicle Act prevents people from being moved in goods vehicles.

“But the sight of labourers sitting atop cement bags in open trucks to unload cargo has become common,” says SP Singh, Senior Fellow, Indian Foundation of Transport Research and Training (IFTRT).

Singh also pointed out the practice of people being transported in trucks for political and religious rallies, without being penalised.

The act of carrying people, among other things, also contravenes permit provisions of goods-carrying trucks. “In such a case, the penalty ranges from ₹2,000-5,000 for the first offence. For the second offence, the punishment is imprisonment for three months or up to a year, or a penalty of ₹5,000-10,000,” said Singh.

However, there is no way of finding out whether an offence is a first or second, says Singh, stressing the need to have an online tracking mechanism for such offences. “The new road safety Bill should not give the enforcer of law such a wide leeway to interpret punishment in such cases.”

Of course, the police still have the powers to register a case of human trafficking under the Indian Penal Code, but as seen in the Agra-Delhi incident none of the labourers were willing to state they were being moved against their will. Meanwhile, the truck is back on the roads after paying a penalty of ₹9,990, a police officer said.

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