Karnataka   

Overloaded sand-laden lorries posing problems in Malavalli

BANGALORE: At least a thousand sand-laden lorries ply every night on the Talkad road, and this has not only damaged the roads in and around Malavalli town but also contributed to vehicular pollution and accidents.

Angered over this, Sarvesh, a leader from the adjoining Yelandur town, says it is high time the authorities clamped down on illegal sand mining and transportation.

Singling out the road to Talkad, Mr. Sarvesh, an electronics engineer, says the trucks are overloaded and some of them have caused accidents. With hundreds of trucks plying every day, motorists and pedestrians have a hard time crossing the road.

Talkad is 30 km from Malavalli and hundreds of lorries make a “beeline” for the small town which was once the capital of the Gangas and now famous for its sand. The entire stretch of the road from Malavalli to Talkad is full of potholes and there is urgent need for repairs. The dust that the trucks leave behind when they move makes things difficult for drivers of other vehicles. Repeated complaints to the authorities have not yielded results.

Fed up with the indifference of the authorities, Mr. Sarvesh says he has requested the State JD (U) chief and candidate from Malavalli, B. Somashekar, to put an end to the menace. He says he has nothing against the plying of the trucks. His anger is against overloaded trucks which, he says, not only damage roads but also cause accidents.

The overloaded trucks leave behind a trail of sand which endangers the safety of other vehicle users. Several residents of Malavalli complained that they had narrowly escaped major injury when their two-wheelers skidded.

A petty shopkeeper near the Inspection Bungalow, which adjoins the Talkad road, says some of the lorries that transport sand do not have headlights or caution lights.

A majority of such lorries do not cover the sand with tarpaulin or plastic sheet and the sand keeps falling into the eyes of people.

They say that none of the candidates who are contesting the elections this time have an answer to the problem. They say only Mr. Somashekar has promised to initiate steps to regulate lorry traffic and ensure that they are not overloaded.

Mr. Sarvesh suggests that the State Government can earn revenue if it installs automatic or electronic weighbridges near major roads in the district. These weighbridges, he feels, would act as a deterrent against overloading and also ensure that the correct amount of tax on the product being transported is collected.

The authorities are installing an automatic weighbridge at Shiradi Ghat on the Bangalore-Mangalore highway. The installation of the sophisticated weighbridge is one of the steps contemplated by the authorities to check overloading of lorries and trailers.

The State and Central Governments had told the Karnataka High Court some time ago that overloading of vehicles had damaged the Shiradi Ghat section and that instructions had been given to the road transport authorities to check it.

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