KOLKATA: Truck operators in Bengal have gone on an indefinite strike on Monday with a six-point demands list, causing goods transportation across the city and state to go haywire. Fear of a demand-supply gap of commodities is now looming large, which may lead to prices of perishables, like vegetables and fish, being hiked.
Bengal has 8 lakh goods carriers and 80 lakh people are directly employed in the system. “We have been writing to the state and Centre about our demands, but we have received no response. This is why we have been forced to call this strike,” said Subhas Bose, secretary of Federation of West Bengal Truck Operators’ Association (FWBTOA).
Bose said the Centre has revised the safe axle weights for goods vehicles to 25% excess goods than the prescribed carrying capacity. The research shows that 25% excess goods would not affect the road, nor would there be any excess pollution. Even though all other states have accepted this revision, Bengal’s refusal to accept it has caused an anomaly.
Along with this, the police atrocity and extortion across the state has crossed all limits, the protesters alleged. “We are fed up with continuously raising this issue in vain. The only job police stations across Bengal have is to collect money from trucks at night. The cops put up nakas to stop every truck and extort them. This happens in no other state,” said Bose.
Apart from FWBTOA, the Bengal Truck Drivers’ Association and Posta Truck Operators’ Association have also participated in the stir, making it almost entirely successful.
