The Hindu Business Line : Baalu meets rival transporter body, assures to fulfil demands

Stir effect: Customers buying vegetables at the Krishna Rajendra vegetables and fruits market in Bangalore on Saturday. Prices of vegetables have shot up 40 per cent due to the indefinite strike called by the All-India Motor Transport Congress. –

Our Bureau

New Delhi, Jan 10 The Union Transport Minister, Mr T.R. Baalu, on Saturday met the truckers’ body – All-India Confederation of Goods Vehicle Owners’ Association (ACOGOA) – which is not participating in the transporters’ strike and sought its support to keep the flow of essential commodities uninterrupted.

He also appealed to the striking All India Motor Transport Congress (AIMTC) to resume work and call off the strike.

Radial tyres import

The ACOGOA President, Mr B Channa Reddy, said Mr Baalu assured him on two counts – of reduction in diesel prices (as has been announced by the Union Petroleum Minister, Mr Murli Deora) and the Transport Ministry’s support for facilitating import of radial tyres into the country as domestic production of these tyres is insufficient to meet the demand.

These two are also part of AIMTC’s long list of demands.

However, AIMTC had sought a specific time frame by which these demands would be met to which the Transport Ministry said it had no executive powers on these issues.

Mr Baalu said he assured ACOGOA that full protection would be provided to the transporters to ensure uninterrupted movement of goods. While stating that the AIMTC office bearers were free to “come and talk”, he reiterated that actual action on most the demands of AIMTC was outside the purview of the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways.

Mr Baalu also informed that a meeting of Transport Ministers of all the States has been convened on Monday (January 12) to discuss, amongst other things, the prevailing situation and to ensure uninterrupted movement of essential commodities across the country.

Based on inputs from the control room set up to monitor the situation arising out of the strike, Mr Baalu claimed there was no impact on supply of essential goods in any of the states so far.

‘no significant impact’

“There has been no significant impact in any State,” Mr Baalu said, adding that fuel unavailability has had an impact. The Transport Ministryearlier said supplies in Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Punjab and Haryana were impacted to some extent.

The States where the transport services have already been declared as an essential service under ESMA are: Andhra Pradesh, Delhi, Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh, Orissa, Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh, Maharashtra and Goa.

Diesel shortage

According to transport research body IFTRT, on Friday due to diesel shortage more than 15 lakh trucks were virtually immobilised and had to be parked with high risk on desolate places on highways.

It further added: all through the agitation more than 85 per cent of the trucks operating on intra-state, inter-state and even trunk routes have been functioning by loading and unloading of cargo for various destinations to “vegetable mandis”, wholesale trade markets and industrial hubs.

IFTRT also said that the national level transport goods transport firms have been carrying on their corporate commitments in an interrupted manner by engaging trucks and making time bound door deliveries.

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