January 2, 2018 by admin

Don’t stop tippers on highway: Police warning to MLA Tinnu

Jalandhar, Police Commissioner Praveen Sinha today warned SAD MLA Pawan Tinnu against intercepting and stopping tippers overloaded with sand on the National Highway 1A.
Tinnu, who had intercepted over a dozen overloaded trucks in the last one week on the Jalandhar-Hoshiarpur highway and also on the National Highway 1A, was asked to lodge a formal complaint with the Mining Department instead.
While speaking to The Tribune, Sinha said an MLA did not have any power to stop vehicles and check their documents or to get them weighed at a “dharam kanta”.
“This has caused harassment to commuters,” he said.
While the SAD MLA stopped an overloaded tipper, which belongs to an inspector posted in PAP, two days ago near Rama Mandi, he again stopped three more overloaded tippers on the New Year’s Eve. Accusing the police of inaction, Tinnu said he spoke to the Police Commissioner, but he did not impound the tippers.
“Instead, he challenged my authority to stop the tippers. The police have the authority to impound tippers modified in violation of original specifications. They overlooked it and claimed that only the transport authority can issue challan and impound any such vehicle,” said Tinnu.
Sinha, however, said though the police had the power to impound an overloaded vehicle, it was “practically not possible to stop every truck and get it weighed at a dharam kanta”.
“The best place to do the checking is at the pitheads where the Mining Department should ensure that no vehicle is overloaded. The stopping of every overloaded vehicle on a national highway will create a lot of chaos and jams,” said Sinha. He, however, said the matter was taken up with Mining Department.