Govt makes location tracking device mandatory for vehicles used for carrying hazardous goods

The new mandate by MoRTH (Ministry of Road Transport and Highways) is to equip all goods vehicles constructed on or after September 1, 2022, with a location tracking device. This is majorly for those that transport dangerous goods.

This notification was issued after it was brought to notice to the Ministry of Transportation that vehicles carrying gases like nitrogen, argon, oxygen, etc., do not fall under the ambit of a national permit and are not armed with Vehicle Location Tracking devices. Thus, the Ministry has made it mandatory that each vehicle of categories N2 and N3 (new model), be manufactured on and after September 1, 2022, and in the case of existing models transporting dangerous goods should be equipped with a Vehicle Tracking system device by 1st January 2023 as per the AIS – Automotive Industry Standard 140.

The N2 category commercial vehicles are those with a gross vehicle weight of over 3.5 tonnes and less than 12 tonnes and N3 are those with a gross vehicle weight of more than 12 tonnes.