The Hindu : Withdraw stir, Minister tells truckers

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

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Withdraw stir, Minister tells truckers

By P.K. Bhardwaj

NEW DELHI APRIL 22. The Road Transport and Highway Minister, B. C. Khanduri, has today called on the striking truckers to withdraw their agitation and return to the negotiating table for a solution to the two main demands on which perceptions differ. Resumption of operations by truckers would help create a congenial atmosphere for negotiations, he said. He was responding to the concern expressed by members over the prolonged strike during the call attention motion in the Lok Sabha.

Making a statement as indicated by the Parliamentary Affairs Minister, Sushma Swaraj, in the Rajya Sabha on Monday, Mr. Khanduri spoke about the efforts made by his Ministry to avert the strike and the failed talks between him and the AIMTC on April 17 and asserted that basically negotiations needed to be carried out in relation to two out of the 10 demands on which there was disagreement.

On seven of their demands, there was no dispute between the Government and the truckers. The eighth demand concerning abolition of the toll tax on four-lane highways and the cess on diesel was non-negotiable. The remaining two unresolved issues concerned their demands for stable and uniform diesel prices with a transparent mechanism for their determination and effective strict enforcement law against overloading.

The Minister's statement was virtually a reiteration of the information put out through advertisements by the Government, spelling out its stand on various demands of the truckers. On the non-negotiable demand, Mr. Khanduri said it had been made clear to the transporters that funds were required not only for the development of highways but also for improving the entire road network in the country including rural roads and State highways.

He said the Government had also clarified that toll was a "user-fee'' being charged from those who used this much improved facility resulting in saving to the user and as such this demand was not acceptable.

His Ministry had taken a serious view of the States' "connivance" with overloading for raising revenues in violation of the Motor Vehicle Act. Since checking of overloading fell within the purview of the States and the Union Territories, the Centre had already warned such State Governments that if they failed to enforce the law, it would be constrained to invoke the provision of the Central Road Fund Act, 2000 and stop the grant being made available to them.

He also shared the concern of members including P.R. Dasmunshi and Ramesh Chennithala (both Congress), Kirit Somaiya (BJP) and V. Radhakrishnan (CPI-M) on the fallout of the strike in terms of hardships, shortages and misuse at the retail level. However, he listed the steps taken by the Centre and the States to deal with the situation to ensure against violence and hardships to the common man.

The Minister rejected the Opposition charge that he was shying away from talking to the strikers or that he was not consulting the State Governments. He also questioned the demand of the transporters that they would come to the negotiating table only if the Prime Minister convened a meeting of Chief Ministers and State Transport Ministers along with the Petroleum Minister. "This is not the way that things can go.''

As the Opposition tirade continued, the Minister at one point shot back, "you please tell me what should I do''. He also said that he was personally in touch with the Chief Ministers and the Transport Ministers of various States. "By and large, supply of essential commodities including perishables has been maintained throughout the country,'' he said.

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