Post-bifurcation, many truck owners from Telangana region, who had registered their vehicles in the Krishna district, are applying for change of address to their respective districts for different reasons.
The Transport Department officials say that the trend picked up during the Telangana agitation, especially after December 2009, and gained momentum with the changing political and financial situation.
Of the nearly 50,000 trucks and other heavy vehicles registered in the district, every year, about 500 truck owners are opting for change of address to Telangana districts like Nalgonda, Khammam, Karimnagar and Warangal, says a senior official.
By now, the official says, about 6,000 truck owners have sought change of address. Apart from the nativity aspect, there are other factors that may have prompted them to shift base. Poor business in the last couple of months due to agitations in Telangana and Andhra districts could have been the primary cause, he says.
Restrictions on sand quarrying in many areas across the Krishna district could be the other possible reason since it was a revenue-generating activity for many truck owners here.
A similar decline in granite and lime transportation over the years from the State to different places, would have contributed to the trend, he says.
“If truck owners continue to operate with old registration numbers, they will have to pay permit fee as they will be treated as other State vehicles for operating in Telangana,” he said.
“Finance companies and loan facility may be other contributors. In the past, Vijayawada was a hub of private finance firms, which extended loans to buy trucks and other heavy vehicles. As a precautionary measure, these firms insisted that the truck owners, even those from Telangana districts, register their vehicles here in the district. In the wake of bifurcation, truck owners could have opted to shift their operations,” says Y.V. Eswara Rao, General Secretary of A.P. Lorry Owners Association.
