Tirupattur admin to tighten vehicle checks

TIRUPATTUR: Collector Amar Kuswaha told DT Next on Monday, “The first step will be setting up of police check posts at three key locations, Pudurnadu, Naickaneri and Kavalur. If load vehicles are found to be ferrying people, they will be impounded and the licences of drivers will be cancelled,” he said. The foothill of Yelagiri Hills already has a forest department checkpost where checking will be intensified by posting policemen, he added. Also, teams have been formed to undertake random vehicle checks. Meanwhile, checks have also started on all load vehicles and documents of drivers, he said.

However, “the lack of sufficient police strength affects such measures as the district has only around 600 personnel of whom 250 will be on core duty daily, leaving only 350 for such crackdowns. Now that government has passed a GO for the creation of AR for the district we feel the situation will ease, probably in three to four months,” he said.

Referring to the accident, the Collector said the load van with a capacity for 10 was carrying more than thrice the number and though the driver had a licence and the vehicle was road worthy, the driver had not completed training for ghats section.