Truckers back on roads as strike ends on 10th day

At the talks held at the IRDA headquarters in Hyderabad on Saturday, the truckers agreed to withdraw the strike after insurance companies agreed to reduce the proposed basic hike in the third party premium from 50 per cent plus taxes with effect from April 1 (before the strike commenced), to 27 per cent now, plus cess, levy and taxes that work out to a little more than 4 per cent. 

“During the first round of talks on April 3, insurance firms agreed to reduce the basic premium hike to 40 per cent. During the marathon talks from 2 pm to 10.30 pm on Friday, the insurance firms agreed to reduce the basic premium hike from 40 per cent to 30 per cent. On Saturday, talks resumed at 2 pm and it was again reduced to 27 per cent,” SIMTA vice-president NP Velu told DTNext.

Velu said that the IRDA also highlighted the heavy losses that the insurance firms would incur, from even a meagre drop in the premium. “They claimed that every one per cent drop in the hike would force them to incur losses to the tune of Rs 350 crore to Rs 400 crore. Since our strike was already into the 10th day we decided to withdraw the strike, considering hardships faced by the public,” he added. 

The strike has been withdrawn at a crucial time, as AIMTC had announced a nationwide, indefinite strike from Saturday if the IRDA did not roll back the steep hike in the premium rates. Toll issue premium hike was among the three demands that SIMTA put forward to the Centre. The two other demands included dropping the proposal to scrap trucks that are over 15 years old, to which Union Minister of State for Road Transport and Shipping Pon Radhakrishnan agreed.

This leaves the toll plaza issue as the only one that is to be redressed. Truckers had urged the government to make toll roads that have got back investment through user toll collection at toll plazas to be made free to the public. 

SIMTA and State Lorry Owners Federation-Tamil Nadu (SLOF-TN) representatives said that the minister assured that a list of toll plazas across the country would be complied, with details pertaining to the cost incurred in laying those highways and amount collected by the contractors and to discuss it with truckers to take a decision on it. 

“This will not happen in one sitting as it is an issue we are fighting for nearly two decades. Truckers’ federations will convene a meeting in a couple of weeks to fix a deadline for the Union government to work out a solution,” a representative added.

On Saturday afternoon, truckers across Tamil Nadu resumed operations immediately after they got a confirmation that the indefinite strike that they began on March 30 has concluded. President of the State Lorry Owners Federation-Tamil Nadu (SLOF-TN), MR Kumarasamy told DTNext that they have asked all their 85 member associations to resume operations immediately. 

“During the 10-day strike, perishable and non-perishable goods worth between Rs 30,000 crore and Rs 35,000 got stagnated. We will operate in full swing to clear the backlog,” he said.