Ganjam district administration in Odisha has banned plying of loaded trucks between 1 pm and 9 pm to ease traffic in Berhampur town.
The decision comes in the wake of the death of a class-X girl student of a private English medium school on Wednesday. The girl died after a loaded truck hit her while she was returning home, police said today.
People had accused police of faulty traffic management for the accident. The town experiences severe traffic congestion during peak hours. "Police will keep watch on traffic violators," a senior police officer said.
The district administration has formed a squad, consisting of police, magistrate and RTO to keep an eye on traffic violators. The squad would be on the lookout for students who drive motorcycles.
"Parents would be discouraged from providing teenagers motorcycles and allowing them to drive without licence," said a police officer adding school and college authorities have asked to provide for parking on the institution premises.
The decision to restrict movement of loaded trucks was taken at a meeting here on Thursday in which collector (Ganjam) Prem Chand Chaudhury and SP (Berhampur) Anirudh Singh were present.
Sub-collector (Berhampur) B K Das, sub-divisional police officer (Berhampur) P K Patnaik, president of Ganjam District Truck Owners Association and officials of Private Bus Owners' Association said.
