Even as the strike by the truck operators entered second day on Saturday, the Tamil Nadu Traders Federation and other organisations have urged the government to take effective steps for an early solution to the issue taking into consideration the need for the movement of goods and materials in the wake of forthcoming festival.
The demands of the truck owners are reduction in the toll on the national highways and rationalisation of diesel and tyre prices.
Although similar agitations had been resorted to in the past, the Centre had given some assurance resulting in the temporary withdrawal of the stir, V. Govindarajulu, state general secretary of the federation said in a statement on Saturday.
Justifying the strike, he said the Centre had not kept its promise in the past, prompting the truck owners of Tamil Nadu and Maharashtra to renew the protest. The Centre should invite the truck owners for talks immediately for evolving a speedy and amicable solution.
Although the impact of the stir is yet to be felt, its continuation will positively have an impact on the prices of vegetables and essential commodities, he said adding that even scarcity of food products could not be ruled out.
Employees and labourers attached to truck concerns would also be affected, not to speak of the fate of loading and unloading labourers.
R. K. Prabhakaran, secretary of the District Lorry Owners Association, claimed that the strike continues to be total. The arrival of vegetables from other states too has stopped today, he said.
According to U.S. Karuppiah, president, Gandhi Market United Traders' Association, the vegetable traders continue to receive vegetables from various parts of the district and also from Odanchathiram in mini vans. The traders also were procuring vegetables directly from the local farmers.
