Bhubaneswar: The State Transport Authority (STA) has intensified its crackdown on road safety violations, cancelling as many as 401 vehicle fitness certificates during a three-day special enforcement drive against overloading and unfit vehicles.
The drive, conducted under the direction of Commerce and Transport Minister Bibhuti Bhushan Jena, was supervised by Principal Secretary Usha Padhee and led by Transport Commissioner Amitabh Thakur.
Teams of Regional Transport Officers (RTOs) across the state carried out rigorous checks focusing on vehicle fitness and overloading.
According to official data, 2,532 challans were issued during the drive, resulting in the collection of fines amounting to Rs 56,37,632.
A total of 275 vehicles were penalised for overloading, while 536 vehicles faced penalties for fitness-related violations.
For overloading cases, 14 vehicles from Cuttack, 25 from Sambalpur, 14 from Keonjhar and vehicles from other districts were penalised.
Similarly, 60 vehicles from Jagatsinghpur, 26 from Subarnapur, 17 from Keonjhar and many vehicles in several districts were cancelled.
Major fine collections were reported from Angul Rs 9.98 lakh, Chandikhole Rs 3.79 lakh, Jharsuguda Rs 3.23 lakh, Bolangir Rs 5.13 lakh, Cuttack Rs 2.51 lakh, Rourkela Rs 2.03 lakh, and Barbil ARTO Rs 4.34 lakh.
The Transport department said the action is part of its broader initiative to reduce road accidents by combining awareness campaigns with strict enforcement.
Special drives are being conducted every week on different road safety themes.
Officials warned that enforcement will be made even more stringent in the coming days, with strict action to be taken against violators as per the Motor Vehicles Act.
The STA has urged all road users to strictly adhere to traffic rules for their own safety and that of others.
PNN
