Truck owners of the country have decided to go on an indefinite strike from the midnight of March 31 in protest against abnormal hike in the premiums of 3rd party insurance of four government-controlled insurance companies.
Supporting the move, General Secretary – Satyajit Majumder, Federation of West Bengal Truck Operators Association (FWBTOA) said, that they will also join the nation-wide indefinite stir called by All India Motor Transport Congress (AIMTC) from April 1st in support of their four-point charter of demands.
Announcing the strike in Kolkata after meeting the states' Transport Minister – Madan Mitra, Satyajit Majumdar said they had put off before taking this decision to see what steps the state transport department would take.
“However, no action has been taken till now even though the states' transport minister had assured to look into their matter”, Majumdar said.
The minister had requested them not to participate in the stir saying, it will have adverse reaction on people and economy. Majumdar said that they have been facing a few problems for which they have decided to start holding an indefinite strike from April 1st midnight joining hands with AITMC, which have already called a nationwide stir from the same date (Apr 1st).
He alleged the government was not taking any initiative to stop overloading in trucks and that the transport department was illegally collecting revenues from truckers for overloading of goods.
Also, the truck owners were facing problems to get or renew their licenses and to sell their vehicles if necessary due to the new rules that the motor vehicles department have introduced, Majumdar added.
Apart from demanding to stop overloading, problems with motor vehicles, police harassment, immediate repair of roads, they also demanded instant withdrawal of hike in third party insurance premium.
Providing the information Uday Shankar Prasad Singh, President, Bihar Motor Transport Federation, said the decision of an indefinite strike by truck owners was taken at a meeting of All India Confederation of Goods Vehicle Owners Associations and All India Motor Transport Confederation in Bangalore on Monday. The road transport secretary of the union government has been informed about the strike through an e-mail, Singh claimed.
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