Guwahati: Trucks transporting Food Corporation of India (FCI) food grains across the Northeast are allegedly operating significantly over their prescribed load limits, raising serious concerns about road safety, infrastructure damage, and financial losses to the state exchequer.
Sources revealed that hundreds of FCI-contracted trucks daily carry excessive loads from various godowns in Meghalaya, Mizoram and Manipur to multiple destinations.
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This blatant violation reportedly occurs with the full knowledge of both FCI and respective state transport department officials.
Road movement permits accessed by Northeast Now expose the scale of the problem. Many six-wheeler trucks in Meghalaya are reportedly hauling 10-15 tonnes more FCI food grains than their legal capacity.
For instance, a two-axle rigid truck (with a permissible Gross Vehicle Weight (GVW) of 19 tonnes, including the vehicle’s weight) is frequently observed carrying over 25 tonnes.
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A specific road movement permit accessed by this correspondent illustrates the severity.
On May 26, 2025, a two-axle rigid truck (registration number AS O1 7499) transported 24.65 tonnes (net weight) of FCI food grains from Mendipathar railhead to the Food Storage Depot (FSD) Tura in Meghalaya.
Given the permissible limit of 19 tonnes (GVW) and the truck’s unloaded weight of over 11 tonnes, its gross vehicle weight exceeded 35 tonnes – a staggering 16 tonnes over the legal limit.
Another two-axle rigid truck (AS 01 MC 0687), also transported 16.6728 tons (net) from the Mendipathar railhead to FSD Tura on the same day. Its unloaded weight was 5.136771 tons, resulting in a gross weight exceeding 21 tons, which is 2 tons above the permitted limit of 19 tons.
Similarly, on the same day, a two-axle rigid truck (ML 07 C 0139) transported 24.72 tons of net weight from the Mendipathar railhead to FSD Tura. With an unloaded weight of 6.83433 tons, the truck’s gross weight exceeded 30 tons, suring the permissible 19-ton limit by 11 tons.
The list of overloaded trucks is far from exhaustive. This correspondent accessed multiple road movement permits, all of which show these trucks violated permissible weight limits.
According to sources, trucks carrying FCI food grains are violating permissible limits not only in Meghalaya, but also in Mizoram and Manipur.
Sources alleged a deep-rooted nexus between truck owners, FCI officials, and transport department personnel, enabling these violations and putting public lives at grave risk.
Such overloading not only increases the likelihood of accidents but also causes extensive damage to roads, leading to significant financial losses for state governments.
This widespread flouting of regulations occurs despite a clear Supreme Court judgment on overloaded trucks.
On July 20, 2018, the apex court ruled that any truck exceeding its permissible limit by more than 10% would face a fine of Rs. 20,000 for the first tonne of overload and Rs. 2,000 for every subsequent ton.
Attempts to reach FCI officials for comment were unsuccessful. Additionally, an email dispatched to the FCI Regional Office in Meghalaya did not receive a response. Northeast Now will update the story once a response is received.