Speed governor: ‘withdraw main notification’

Speed governor: ‘withdraw main notification’

Staff Reporter

BANGALORE: With the one-month extension given by the Supreme Court to fix speed governors on transport vehicles in the State to expire soon, transporters in the State have urged the State Government to withdraw the main notification on speed governors even as they threatened to go on strike from October 30 midnight.

A similar strike threat was called off at the last minute after the apex court on September 30 extended the deadline fixed by the Karnataka High Court to fix speed governors. Addressing presspersons here on Thursday, G.R. Shanmugappa, president of the Federation of Karnataka State Lorry Owners and Agents’ Associations, said the speed governor rule was discriminatory and retrogressive. Mr. Shanmugappa said the National Highway Authority of India had recommended increasing the speed limit on various types of road, ranging from 50 km per hour on district roads to 90 km per hour on national highways. In such a situation, fixing speed governors, limiting the speed to 60 km per hour, for vehicles in Karnataka was highly unscientific, he said.

At a time when the Indian Railways was favouring high speed freight corridors, speed governors would needlessly restrain truck operators from competition, he added.