The Hindu : Lorry strike called off in state

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Wednesday, Apr 23, 2003

Southern States

Southern States - Andhra Pradesh

Lorry strike called off in state

By Our Special Correspondent

HYDERABAD APRIL 22. The A.P. Lorry Owners' Association called off its strike on Tuesday after paralysing movement of goods, including essential commodities, throughout the State for nine days.

The decision to end the strike was announced after a meeting between the Chief Minister, N. Chandrababu Naidu, and representatives of the association in the Secretariat this afternoon when the Government conceded a majority of the truckers' demands. Another body of lorry owners, the JAC, had called off the stir two days ago.

Addressing a press conference, the president of the association, P. Gopal Naidu, said the truckers would, however, continue to participate in the agitation at the national level. This dichotomy was attributed to the fact that lorries from the State would not be able to enter neighbouring Karnataka and Maharashtra where the strike is total.

He said about 1.80 lakh lorries owned by an estimated 75,000 operators in the State would be back on the road with immediate effect. He said one reason that weighed in favour of ending the agitation was the hardship caused to farmers in transporting paddy, vegetables and fruits during the peak season.

The Transport Commissioner, A. Giridhar, who was also present, said the Government had conceded the truckers' demand on toll tax by agreeing not to collect the levy on 34 old bridges on which the capital cost had been realised. It would also stop tax collection on bridges on which the investment was less than Rs. 1 crore.

The Government agreed to instruct Municipalities and Cantonment Boards to stop collection of octroi since it was irregular, having been abolished nearly three decades ago. It extended from April 30 to May 15 the last date for payment of motor vehicle tax by truckers.

Mr. Giridhar announced that the demand relating to a check on overloading of vehicles had also been addressed. Officials would be posted at loading points and all goods over and above the specified weight/volume offloaded.

On the issue of harassment of lorry drivers by the police and transport officials, the Government offered to scrap the system of fixing targets for collection of compounding fee. It said the circular issued by the Director-General of Police on November 18, 2002, regarding cases booked under Section 304 (A) of IPC (rash and negligent driving) would be strictly implemented by releasing the vehicles involved in accidents on personal bond and giving bail to the driver.

However, the Government turned down the truckers' demand for scrapping the collection of user charges by the Road Transport Authority (RTA) for issue of licences, permits and transfer documents. It offered to consider this demand next year.

On abolishing VAT, the Government said it would take steps to see that there was no increase in prices of diesel and tyres. It agreed to favourably consider the demand for dropping criminal cases booked against truckers' during the strike and to speedily dispose of cases booked during prohibition.

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