Members of the Federation of Karnataka State Lorry Owners and Agents Association on Thursday said that sand lorry owners will go on an indefinite strike from Sunday night to protest against restrictions imposed on movement of sand lorries.
“We want proper permits to be issued to sand lorries so that sand transported legally is not seized and illegal transportation can also be checked,” said G.R. Shanmugappa, federation president.
The federation is also seeking a colour coding for lorries that transport sand. “Preferably, lorries carrying sand can be coloured yellow so that illegal transportation can be curbed. Lack of proper rules is increasing corruption. The government of Karnataka loses nearly Rs. 300 crore every year because of illegal transportation of sand,” said Mr. Shanmugappa.
Their demands
Among the other demands was that the government should permit transportation of up to three feet of sand at a time. Sand from other States is also finding its way into Karnataka because of lack of a system to check their transportation, said Mr. Shanmugappa.
“Bangalore requires about 3,000 loads of sand per day. Until the issues put forth by the federation are not settled, public works will be hit,” he added.
“We had submitted a memorandum to the Chief Minister, Law Minister and Public Works Department 20 days ago, but no action has been taken yet,” he said.
