Truckers, cabbies call off strike

Bangalore: People preparing to celebrate Makara Sankranti and Milad-un-Nabi were relieved as the truckers decided to call of their two day old strike Monday evening in response to an appeal by the government not to disrupt the festivities.

The taxi strike was also withdrawn following an assurance from transport minister, Ramalinga Reddy that all the demands raised would be met soon. But the sand truck owners who have been on strike since the last three weeks, have decided not to give up their stir until all their problems are solved.

Difference of opinion between two factions of truck owners affiliated to the Federation of Kar­nataka State Lorry Owners and Agents Association at their three hour long meeting with the state government reportedly helped it push its agenda to bring the strike to an end although no consensus was arrived at on any of the issues raised.

Earlier in the day the city was staring at shortage of foodgrains and vegetables with over six lakh trucks and cabs going off the roads across the state bringing to a halt commodity supply from neighbouring states and districts. LPG cylinder supply was also affected causing panic among people preparing to celebrate Makara Sankr­anti and Milad-un-Nabi.

Next: Stir off but truckers an unhappy lot

Stir off but truckers an unhappy lot

Bangalore: The truckers strike may be off but the marathon meeting on Monday between the state government and representatives of Feder­ation of Karnataka State Lorry Owners and Agents Asso­ciation, headed by G.R. Shanmugappa, failed to arrive at a consensus on major iss­ues raised by the agitating truck owners.

According to insiders pres­­ent at the meeting, the truck owners were firm about sticking to their dem­ands. They thre­atened that if the deadlock does not end by Mon­day even­ing, they will stop transporting essential commo­dities. Chief Minister Siddar­amaiah however manged to convince them to call off the stir.

One of the major dem­ands of the sand truck owners is obtaining leases to mine sand and to allow them to transport up to 20,000 loads of sand per day. The mines and geology department has warned that conceding to this dem­and would cause an ecological disaster.

The other major demand of the truck owners is with­drawal of over 1,600 cases filed against sand lorry transporters across the state. Police officials say they can’t withdraw the cases as the first info­rma­tion reports have alre­ady been filed. Officials from the law, home and mines departments, the state pollution control boa­rd, and the police department took part in the meeting.
A government official said that the state government has not given any concrete assurance to tru­ck drivers.

“They can’t take public sentiment lig­htly. Government can’t violate rules and regulations under pressure from the tru­ck owners. It will be unethical on their (the truck owners) part to stop the supply of essential commodities on the pretext of supporting the sand lorry owners,” he said. But G.R. Shanm­uga­ppa, president of the lorry owners’ federation sa­id that the sand truck str­ike will con­tinue for the next four days.

“Today we have withdrawn only the general tru­ck strike. Unless and until we get a copy of the government order on our demands, sand truck owners will continue their str­ike. The government has assured us it will meet our demands in the next four days. Sand supply will be resumed after four days,” he said.