U-turn by Centre, State’s adamancy forced us to go on strike: Truckers

“Our key demand to the Centre was roll back of the 58 per cent hike in third party insurance premium for trucks. While the minister agreed to it, we have got a letter from the Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority (IRDA) that the premium hike from last year has been fixed at 40 per cent. This is contrary to the understanding reached at the meeting with the minister,” SIMTA general secretary GR Shanmugappa said. 

On the other hand, the State Lorry Owners Federation – Tamil Nadu (SLOF-TN) president MR Kumarasamy said that the talks they had with Tamil Nadu Transport Minister MR Vijayabhaskar at Chennai on Thursday was also not fruitful. Kumarasamy said that they sought roll back in RTO fee, which had been hiked manifold, VAT hike on diesel and exemption of old trucks from speed governors.

The federation leader who led the trucker’s delegation for the talks said that the minister told us that the roll back on VAT for fuel would not be possible as the government was facing a financial crunch. “Though truckers were ready to accept this explanation and call off the strike, they wanted their other two demands to be met by the government,” he said.

The strike affected at least Rs 500 crore business in the central districts, said lorry owners association office bearers here on Thursday. Meanwhile in Tiruchy, over 3500 lorries took part in the strike. Not only the sand lorries and lorries transport hardware, but also the lorries used for transporting essential commodities like vegetables and provisions participated in the strike. Meanwhile, association of salt producers of Nagapattinam said, thought salt production had not commenced in full swing transporting of salt has been affected.