The Hindu Business Line : Conflicting reports on transport strike's success

The strike was more a hype than a reality, says Mr Chittaranjan Dass, Vice-President of All India Confederation of Goods Vehicles Owners Associations.

Kolkata , June 13

Conflicting reports were available about the success of the transport strike called by the All India Motor Transport Congress (AIMTC) and supported by the All India Transporters' Welfare Association (AITWA), among others.

While Mr J.M. Saxena, Adviser of the AIMTC, and Mr R.K. Gulati, Joint General Secretary of the AITWA, claimed the nationwide strike was a success, Mr Chittaranjan Dass, Vice-President of All India Confederation of Goods Vehicles Owners Associations, stated that there was no strike at all anywhere in the country. "The strike was more a hype than a reality," he said.

Both Mr Saxena and Mr Gulati, however, conceded that although the strike was called for 24 hours, the trucks started plying from 7 p.m. The AIMTC, according to Mr Saxena, wanted to bring out a procession in Delhi in support of the strike, but was not allowed by the police. The strike, he said, was particularly successful in West Bengal, Maharashtra, Delhi, Punjab Chhattisgarh, Orissa, Jharkhand and Uttar Pradesh, a claim rubbished by Mr Dass.

There was no booking, no loading and unloading of trucks in response to the strike, said Mr Gulati. However, according to Mr Dass, Kamala Nagar, an important transport centre in Delhi, was as busy as any other day.

According to Mr Saxena, the AIMTC represented 27 lakh heavy-commercial vehicles, 5.5 lakh light commercial vehicles, 1.5 lakh transport companies and 3,750 transporters' associations throughout the country, and was the country's biggest transporters' organisation. Mr Dass complained that the country's road transport sector was dominated by individual transport operators having one or two vehicles and the AIMTC did not represent these sections.

Mr Saxena felt that the slashing of the sales tax by some of the State Governments was not enough. For example, the sales tax had been reduced by 65 paise by the Maharashtra Government, whereas it should have been actually reduced by Rs 3.68. Mr Dass felt that tyre prices jumped significantly in recent times and the cost of tyre accounted for 35 per cent of the cost of a transporter. Also, the vehicle prices soared. However, there was no demand for revision of these prices.