Karwar (ENS): In view of a series of accidents involving tankers carrying LPG on the Mangaluru-Panaji National Highway in the district, the regional transport office (RTO) of Honnavar launched a drive to check whether these vehicles follow rules.

The drive started on Wednesday and the RTO staff checked on hundreds of gas tankers and found that 40 of them are plying with single driver though there is a rule that such vehicles should have two. Till Friday evening, a fine to the tune of Rs 1 lakh fine was collected from gas tankers. On Tuesday, a gas tanker had overturned at Honnavar town and the very next day, another tanker skidded off the road at Tadekode near Kumta.

Both the tankers belong to Bharat Petroleum Corporation. Following several such mishaps in the district, Deputy Commissioner S S Nakul ordered the RTO officials to keep a check on gas tankers. Every day, hundreds of tankers transport LPG from Mangaluru to other parts of Karnataka, Goa, Maharashtra, Gujarat and other states.

As the destinations are hundreds or thousands of kilometres away from Mangaluru, the government has made it compulsory for the petroleum companies to have two drivers for each tanker. But, most of the tankers are still plying with single drivers, leading to accidents on the highway. According to sources, drivers get tired after a long drive, leading to road mishaps. To save the cost on drivers, the petroleum companies are not keeping two drivers in tankers, it is said.