Chennai: Residents of Chennai can heave a sigh of relief as the Tamil Nadu Private Water Tanker Lorry Owners' Association called off their indefinite strike on Wednesday evening after the state government assured them that it would consider their demands.
According to the reports, close to 5,000 water tankers of the association that supply water to Chennai from Chennai, Tiruvallur and Kancheepuram districts had gone on an indefinite strike from Wednesday morning seeking the government's interventions to allow them to operate without hassle.
According to Mr Nijalingam, association's president, police have been filing cases of theft under the Section 379 of Indian Penal Code and have arrested drivers and owners. He pointed out that there is shortage of water tanker drivers as many were not willing to drive the tankers due to the registration of cases. The main reason cited by Nijalingam for calling the strike was non-cooperation by village authorities and villages in Chennai, Tiruvallur and Kancheepuram districts to drawing groundwater. He demanded that government issue licences facilitate hassle-free operations.
On Wednesday at around 8. 30 am the operations parked the vehicles on Pallavaram-Thoraipakkam radial road and Vandalur-Minjur outer ring road on the city suburbs and different places in the city and began their indefinite stir.
However, after meeting the municipality administration officials in the secretariat on Wednesday evening, the association president told reporters that they are calling off the strike based on the assurances given by the government. "They have issued some licences in three districts - Kancheepuram, Chennai and Tiruvallur," Nijalingam told reporters. The government also assured them that licences in other districts across the state would be issued in three weeks, he said.
