To enhance road safety and security, the National Highway Authority (NHA) will take action against commercial vehicles operating without the necessary certifications, as well as those exceeding the prescribed weight or passenger limits.
This was decided at a high-level meeting of the NHA presided over by Minister of Communications Abdul Aleem Khan. Some senior officials from National Highways and Motorways Police (NHMP) also participated in the meeting.
“It should be mandatory for all commercial vehicles before coming on the Motorways to undergo physical fitness check,” Aleem Khan said, adding that strict action will be taken who will defy these directives as, he recalled, its inevitable for road safety of the commuters.
In the meeting, plying of commercial vehicles with extra weight was also disallowed. “No bus should operate on highways or motorways without the necessary certification under any circumstances,” reads an official statement of the authority.
The minister directed that NHMP authorities to ensure strict checks on initiatives, adding that any bus found bus found with passenger numbers exceed the limit that should be offloaded at that same location immediately without any justification.
Moreover, within the next three months, the licenses of all existing commercial drivers will be re-verified. To ensure public awareness about these policies, the NHA and the Motorway Police will launch separate media campaigns for their effective promotion.
The Aleem Khan also instructed the IG NHMP to personally meet with transporters and take them into confidence about new measures, emphasizing that making national highways safer is a top priority of the NHA. He added that as long as officers remain active, improvements will also continue.
In his remarks, Federal Minister Abdul Aleem Khan highlighted that the recent actions taken by the NHA have not only resulted in an increase in revenue but have also led to a reduction in incidents of over speeding on the Motorways. Federal Minister directed the Secretary for Communications, Chairman NHA and the IG NHMP to establish monitoring cells in their respective offices under an integrated system where data and videos of each Motorway and Highway can be accessed with the one click of a button.
He also emphasized the use of Artificial Intelligence and advanced technology in this regard. Motorways reported that, in line with the Minister’s directives, 76 FIRs have been registered for over speeding and there is a noticeable decline in such incidents.
Earlier, NHA’s M-Tag policy was in place. To ensure 100 percent implementation on M-Tags, the authority also has imposed additional 25 per cent toll tax charges on vehicles with low or no balance. This was temporary measure at achieving 100 per cent cashless toll system across the country.
The purpose of this move was to make all roads in the country toll plazas hustle free. From February 1 this year which significantly increased the payments through M-Tags. “Before this implementation, ratio of payment of toll taxes through M-Tags was merely 10 per cent which has been increased by 55 per cent now within short span time,” parliamentary secretary Gul Asghar Khan said in a statement at floor of the house.
The full implementation of the M-Tag policy aims to streamline the toll collection process and encourage the use of electronic tags for more efficient and faster travel across Pakistan’s motorway network.