In what could be the heftiest fine on a traffic violator under the amended Motor Vehicles Act, 1988, in the country, Sambalpur Regional Transport Office (RTO) has issued a challan of Rs 86,500 to a truck driver in Odisha.

Truck driver Ashok Jadav was fined on September 3, 2019. Though the total fine amount was Rs 86,500, Jadav paid Rs 70,000 after negotiating with authorities for more than five hours.

According to reports, Jadav was fined for allowing an unauthorised person to drive (Rs 5,000), driving without a licence (Rs 5,000), overloading with an excess of 18 tonnes (Rs 56,000), carrying over dimension projections (Rs 20,000) and a general offence (Rs 500).

The truck, bearing Nagaland registration number NL01 G1470 belongs to a Nagaland-based company BLA Infrastructure Private Limited. The truck was loaded with a JCB machine. It was on its way to Chhattisgarh from Talcher town of Angul district when it was intercepted by officials in Sambalpur.

Odisha is among the few states which started implementing the amended Motor Vehicles Act, 1988, from September 1, 2019, when it came into force. It has grossed the highest penalty in the country in the first four days of its implementation by collecting over Rs 88 lakh.