Rewari: The Regional Transport Authority (RTA) here has imposed a penalty of Rs 4.18 crore on 833 owners of commercial heavy vehicles evading road tax during the past three months. Some vehicles were found to be overloaded.
Buses resembling those of Haryana Roadways are among the challaned vehicles. Several such buses have been impounded. The buses belong to operators based in Rajasthan and Delhi.
Sources said the drive against heavy commercial vehicles picked up pace after Pradeep Dahiya, Additional Deputy Commissioner (ADC)-cum-Secretary, RTA, took charge in August.
As per officials, a penalty of Rs1.22 crore was collected from 326 challans in September, while Rs1.12-crore penalty was imposed on 262 vehicles the next month. In November, a penalty of Rs1.84 crore was imposed on 295 vehicles.
Several personal vehicles, which were being used for the commercial purpose, were also fined in the past three months.
“During the drive, we found several ECO cars and vans registered for personal use being used for commercial purpose. All these were challaned. A hefty tax was recovered from owners of three private buses plying between Rewari and Narnaul for not paying tax,” Dahiya said.
On private buses that are refurnished to look like those of Haryana Roadways, the ADC said such buses were being run by private transporters based in Rajasthan and Delhi for evading tax as well as attracting passengers as most of them prefers travelling in roadways buses instead of private ones.
“Tickets also resemble the ones issued in Haryana Roadways buses. The size of the ticket, the quality of the paper and the font size have been copied with precision,” Dahiya added.
