More than 60,000 truckers, mostly service providers to the automobile industry in the Gurgaon-Manesar-Bawal industrial sector, have threatened to go off the roads from Monday in protest against the Haryana Transport Department’s refusal to issue fitness certificates to their over-sized trucks.
Several major automobile manufactures including Hero MotoCorp, Honda Motorcycle, Suzuki Motorcycle, Maruti, Toyota, Mercedes, Hyundai, Bajaj and Yamaha and vendor associated with them would be affected by the strike.
The Automobile Carrier Welfare Association (ACWA) in a press statement said the Haryana government has been denying fitness certificates to their trucks since December 3 following which several vehicles were forced to go off the roads.
The truckers need to procure fitness certificates from the Regional Transport Authority on an annual basis, but the Haryana Transport Department has been refusing it for the past one month stating that the trucks were over-sized.
“Almost all trucks associated with the automobile sector are over-sized, but have been granted fitness certificates for the past 30 years. The new Transport Commissioner, Ashok Khemka, has denied the fitness certificates after taking over, forcing several trucks to go off the roads. And those plying on the roads are being challaned,” said ACWA general-secretary Daman Dewan.
One of the truckers said adhering to the law on the size of the trucks was economically unviable as it reduced the carrying capacity of the vehicle to less than half.
“Now we are carrying five cars in a truck, but if we adhere to the law only two cars can be carried,” said the trucker.
Pointing out that truckers have been running from pillar to post for the past one month, Mr. Dewan said the decision has caused losses to the truckers, who were paying hefty EMI for their vehicles and also to the automobile industry. He added that the truckers were demanding a reasonable timeframe to modify their trucks, but the government was not ready to listen.
“We have met the Chief Minister and several senior officials concerned, but there is no breakthrough. We have now decided to go off the roads to make our voice heard,” said Mr. Dewan.
