Phagwara, May 17
A large number of truck operators from Punjab, including that of Kapurthala, Nawanshahr, Jalandhar and Hoshiarpur districts, have shifted their base to Haryana, reportedly due to considerable difference in permit fee and overloading charges in both states.
Truck operators have claimed that due to harassment at the hands of district transport officers (DTOs) and higher charges, they were shifting to the neighbouring state. Balbir Chand, coordinator, state-level truck operator associations of Punjab, claimed, “Truck operators in the state are passing through a very difficult phase due to bureaucratic procedures of the transport department and higher charges.”
For instance, he said, in Punjab operators had to wait for more than a month to get the registration number for trucks from DTOs and had to pay Rs 6,250 as permit fee. But in Haryana, registration was done within a day or two and the permit fee was just Rs 3,000. Due to shifting of truck operators, he claimed, the state government was also losing hefty amount every year. The Kapurthala Truck Operators Association claimed that around 150 local truck operators had already shifted to Haryana.
“Why should we continue our business here when the state government and especially its transport department is bent on crushing our trade. How can we remain in business, when the state government has fixed district wise quotas for the DTOs to collect monthly fee,” a truck operator asked.
Insiders point out that in Haryana the DTOs charge a fixed amount of Rs 2,000 per tonne for overloading, but in Punjab there is no upper limit of fine and DTOs charge up to Rs 5,000 for one tonne of extra load. It may be mentioned that under the Motor Vehicles Act, up to 9 tonnes of weight can be loaded in a normal truck. However, most of the truckers load up to 15-17 tonnes of weight.
According to information available from the state transport authorities of Punjab and Haryana, 98,643 trucks were registered in Punjab as against 28,144 trucks in Haryana by 2003-04. But during the next two years, new truck operators of Punjab preferred Haryana and other neighbouring districts for registration.
Balbir Chand said, “DTOs in Punjab are forcing us to get registration in the state. In case of trucks bearing Haryana registration numbers, they impose Rs 1,000 as additional fine for a minor offence.”
He said to save the business in the state, a policy in consultation with major truck operators’ unions be evolved. “Due to stiff competition from railways and with the entry of new operators, the margins in the trade had gone down. The state government should intervene as the business was providing employment to lakhs of people and making significant contribution to the state exchequer”.
