Southern States - Andhra Pradesh   

Naidu to take up truckers' issue with PM

By Our Staff Reporter

HYDERABAD APRIL 18. The failure of talks between the Government and truck operators in New Delhi saw a shift in scene to Hyderabad on Friday with the All-India Motor Transport Congress (AIMTC) seeking the intervention of the Chief Minister, N. Chandrababu Naidu, to break the deadlock in talks.

The AIMTC president, B.N. Dhumal, called on Mr. Naidu and urged him to use his clout in Delhi to convince the Centre to meet the "reasonable'' demands of truckers, even as the truckers' strike entered the fifth day.

Mr. Naidu gave a patient hearing to the AIMTC delegation which consisted of the managing committee member of the Congress, Mohd. Khan, the Joint Action Committee convener, Mohd. Iqbal, Hussain, and the joint convener, Vimal C. Gupta.

Mr. Naidu told the delegation that with already people reeling under the effect of drought, this was not the right time for trucks to go off the road and compound problems. He would however, speak to the Prime Minister, Atal Behari Vajpayee, and apprise him of the situation, he said.

While the prices of vegetables were by and large stable, fruits became dearer. There were fears that petroleum supplies would be hit and petroleum filling stations would see serpentine queues. However, supplies were as close to normal as possible and there was no rush at gas stations.

The prices of vegetables did not see much of a change at the major markets. Traders at the lower level seemed to use the strike as an excuse to jack up prices. At the wholesale vegetable market in Monda here, the prices were as follows: Carrot Rs. 12 a kg, cabbage Rs. 10, tomato Rs. 16, onion Rs. 7, potato Rs. 8, ladiesfinger Rs. 14, beans Rs. 28, capsicum Rs. 25 and brinjal Rs. 10.

Members of the Joint Action Committee are to meet the Transport Minister, M. Damodar Reddy, on Saturday morning and sit for discussions regarding specific problems faced by truckers in the State. When the delegation met the Chief Minister in the morning, he is understood to have asked Mr. Damodar Reddy to look into State-specific problems and solve them to the extent possible.

The problems faced by truckers in the State include police harassment and removal of the newly-introduced highway patrolling system, as it was feared it would encourage corruption, unnecessary booking of cases to achieve `targets', removal of heavy compounding fee, service charges and toll tax and provision of parking space all over the State.

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