Goods movement in the State came to a grinding halt with the commencement of indefinite strike of lorries from Thursday.
The strike call was given by the All India Motor Transport Congress (AIMTC) to protest against the exorbitant toll being collected in the toll plazas functioning on the national highways in the country, removal of two per cent TDS on transport sector etc.More than 6.90 lakh lorries owned by the members of the State Lorry Owners Federation – Tamil Nadu are off the road since midnight, K. Nallathambi, its president told The Hindu . The load booking for inter-State transport was stopped a couple of days ago and the lorries which had already left the state are stationed en-route in different states, he said.
Mr. Nallathambi said that the country accounted for 373 toll plazas and many of them have already earned more than what has been invested for laying the highways.
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Mr. Nallathambi said that the AIMTC was prepared to pay the just toll. The AIMTC has already suggested collection of Rs. 15,000 per year as toll for lorries plying inside the state, Rs. 25,000 per year for lorries plying in the neighbouring states and Rs. 35,000 for lorries with all India permit.
The members of the Federation staged a demonstration near Keerambur toll plaza on the Namakkal–Karur highway in the morning. K. Nallathambi, led the agitation, in which P. Kailasam, president and members of the Namakkal District Sand Lorry Owners Association too participated.
All the 75,000 sand lorries plying in the state are off the road on Thursday to express their solidarity with the AIMTC, according to Sella Rajamani, president, Tamil Nadu Sand Lorry Owners Federation. The toll collection is proving a hindrance to the sand lorries and hence the association has decided to participate in the strike for a day on Thursday.
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As the prolonged strike by the sand lorries will hit the ongoing construction activities in the state, the sand lorries will resume plying from 6 a.m. on Friday, Mr. Rajamani said.
The Tamil Nadu Poultry Farmers Association, Namakkal, has expressed solidarity with the strike and is not operating its 600 and odd lorries for transporting eggs to various parts of the state and also to the neighbouring states of Kerala and Karnataka and Union Territory of Puducherry.
The Association supplied about 90 lakh eggs daily to Kerala and another ten lakh eggs to Karnataka. It has to supply about 55 lakh eggs for the noon meal centres in Tamil Nadu on Saturday.
As such the Association lorries will not ply for the first two days and resume their operation from Saturday onwards, considering the eggs industry’s nature, said R. Nallathambi, its president.
He pleaded with the AIMTC to cooperate to enable the Tamil Nadu Poultry Farmers Association to transport the eggs from Saturday. The State Government should also provide adequate security to the egg lorries, he said.