In the backdrop of increasing road accident on national highways, Haryana Home Minister Anil Vij, accompanied by Ambala superintendent of police Jashandeep Singh Randhawa and other senior police officials, stopped and fined overloaded trucks and heavy vehicles that were violating lane-norms on the Ambala-New Delhi national highway on Thursday. Vij stepped out of his official vehicle, signalled heavy vehicles to stop and asked the police officials to issue challans to those violating traffic rules.

The Home Minister also issued directions to district police chiefs to strictly enforce traffic rules and regulations, especially in terms of heavy vehicles movement on the national and state highways.

Talking to journalists, Vij said, “In Haryana, around 10,000 road accidents take place annually. About 5,000 people lose their lives in road accidents and approximately 9,000 are injured annually. All this happens because of not following traffic rules and regulations. We do not want to ensure strictness, but at the same time we want motorists to follow traffic rules and regulations. We are installing automatic-speed-capturing/monitoring cameras on all the highways across Haryana. About 20 cameras have already been installed on the Ambala-Delhi national highway stretch.”

The Home Minister further said, “In a survey, we have found that the majority of road accidents take place because heavy vehicles are not following their designated lanes. Today, on the national highway, I found three-four trucks or heavy vehicles being driven parallel on the highway. That is why I stopped my convoy, got down on the road and ensured that such violators are challaned. I have issued instructions to all district police chiefs to ensure that heavy vehicles follow the lane-norms so that innocent lives can be saved”. Vij said that in the coming days, he would conduct such surprise checks in other districts of the state as well.