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An unnecessary strike

AFTER STRANGLING THE nation's economy for ten days and putting the public to unnecessary hardship, the truckers have finally called off their strike. It may take at least another five days for the restoration of normal movement of goods and the damage already caused to producers and consumers alike cannot be made up. For all that, the truckers have gained little. Except for holding negotiations again with the Minister for Road Transport and Highways along with the Petroleum Minister on Wednesday, they have achieved very little. Vague assurances that the Centre and States will look into their major demands and a committee to go into the question of tolls are all that the All-India Motor Transport Congress (AIMTC) could extract from the Centre. This only begs the question as to what the AIMTC achieved by holding the nation to ransom for these ten days.

The truckers' strike has to be seen in the perspective of the overall cost of operations. Their main grievance has been that when the costs are rising, they have not been able to pass it on to the consumers — insurance costs, tolls, fortnightly revision in diesel prices, the Rs. 10,000 excise levy on chassis have no doubt contributed to an increase in the cost of operations. Hence their demand for fixing a minimum freight rate, which has now been left to the States. But the truckers must also know that the interest rates have fallen and hire purchase of vehicles is also cheaper. The entry of fuel-efficient vehicles and a determined effort to improve the quality of roads and highways must also reduce costs and more important, the rates are determined in a competitive market. The AIMTC needs to be more professional in its approach and perhaps go in for a dispute resolution mechanism both at the Central and State levels, if it wants to avoid a repeat of such a strike.

In this strike period, the indifference of the State Governments — barring a few — has caught the attention of the public. It is one thing to suggest that the demands of the AIMTC had to be dealt with by the Centre, but to wash their hands off when the public were so obviously stressed, does not speak very well of a State administration. True, many of them arranged for additional buses and police convoys to keep the supply of perishables and essentials going. But the States could have done more. Agreeing to the demand that the Prime Minister must have intervened and met the truckers to resolve the strike would have set a dangerous precedent. As it turned out, all that the AIMTC wanted was a face-saving device to call off the strike and the talks with the two Ministers and officials provided that opportunity. The only clarification that must have brought some cheer to the truckers was that they will not come under the VAT net, being in the service sector. A comment attributed to the AIMTC president, B.S. Dhumal, is significant — "We will never resort to a strike again". That must be one of the lessons from the strike, which has been a costly exercise for the whole country.

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