A truck driver from Odisha’s Sambalpur district was last week fined Rs 86,500 for violating traffic rules under the amended Motor Vehicles Act, the Hindustan Times reported on Monday. Though the incident took place on September 3, a photo of the challan issued to him went viral on Saturday.

Sambalpur’s Regional Transport Officer Lalit Mohan Behera said Ashok 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 tonne (Rs 56,000), carrying over dimension projections (Rs 20,000) and general offences (Rs 500). After negotiating with the traffic authorities for five hours, the driver paid them Rs 70,000.

The truck was on the way from Talcher in Anugur district of Odisha to Chhattisgarh when it was stopped in Sambalpur, ANI reported.

On the same day, the Gurugram traffic police had fined a two-wheeler rider Rs 23,000 for flouting multiple rules under the amended Motor Vehicles Act. Dinesh Madan, a resident of East Delhi’s Geeta Colony, was penalised for not carrying the required documents and riding without a helmet.

The Motor Vehicles (Amendment) Bill, 2019, was passed by the Rajya Sabha on July 31 and came into force on September 1. The legislation aims to remove corruption, improve road safety and use technology to regulate traffic. It also enforces stricter penalties for road traffic violations.

On the first day after it was implemented, 39,000 drivers were fined for several offences, including for triple-riding, breaking pollution norms, and having tampered number plates among other violations.

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