Good rabi crop procurement and a massive operation planned by the Centre for distribution of agri products and pulses across the country during the Covid-19 crisis will give bring respite to the trucking industry over the next few months.

Since the cargo flow from the manufacturing and trade sectors have come to a grinding halt due to lockdown, the trucking industry was majorly impacted with fleet utilisation dropping significantly. According to estimates, only 10-15 per cent of the 5.2 million trucks operate primarily for the movement of essential items.

However, the proposed revival and relief measures of the government, along with the seasonal agri products, will give a much-needed breather to the sector.

Even when the rabi crop procurement is at its peak, 12-15 lack truckers get engaged in the movement of crops to mandis. This time, there was a record production of wheat and pulses of 265 million tonnes in about 12 States.

The harvesting is expected to continue till May 31 and the arrival of summer fruits and vegetables to APMC will continue till July 31, helping trucking business to depend on food items rather than manufacturing products, whose quantum of availability is uncertain even after the lockdown is lifted.

“The rabi crop procurement is a major silver lining for truck operators, who have been given several fiscal and operational relaxations to run smoothly on highways for intra-state and inter-state movement of goods irrespective of essential or non-essential cargo by Centre and State Governments. This will result in a reduced financial burden and higher freight charges for the movement of agri-food items, benefitting a major section of truckers,” said SP Singh, Senior Fellow and Coordinator, IFTRT (Indian Foundation of Transport Research and Training).

Meanwhile, the Central government plans to distribute one kg of pulses each to about 20 crore households for three months in the country in order to meet the protein needs of people during this crisis under the PM Garib Kalyan Anna Yojana (PMGKAY).

The scale of this 5.88 lakh tonne pulses distribution operation is massive and each kg of pulse goes through at least three (in many cases four) trips by truck and as many cycles of loading and unloading. While for long distances, transport is being done through goods train, in most cases transportation is by road through trucks. Overall, this operation will involve about two lakh truck trips and loading and unloading over a month.

Admitting that the rabi crop procurement season will help the truckers, President of All India Motor Congress, S K Mittal said the association have asked for the waiver of toll fees till May 31 as 85 per cent of the small operators will not be able to take the burden during this crisis period.

Punjab and Haryana have given an exemption for farmers from toll fees for rabi harvest.

The All India Confederation of Goods Vehicle Owners Associations (ACOGOA) has also sought some support for truck drivers.

“It will be a big challenge for operators to convince drivers to re-join duty. The government must announce a without duty, the compensation package of ₹10,000 specifically for drivers, loaders and unloaders, most of whom are part of the migratory population in different States, and steps to prevent their infection while moving from State to State,” said Rajinder Singh, Secretary-General, ACOGOA.

Meanwhile, the Union Ministry of Road Transport and Highways has created a dashboard link on its website for providing list and details of dhabas and truck repair shops available across the country by various organisations such as NHAI, States, Oil Marketing companies. This is intended to help the truck drivers and cleaners in their movement of goods between different places.

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