Truck unions observe daylong strike across Punjab

Chandigarh, June 28

As many as 93,000 truckers in Punjab, owing allegiance to different unions, on Wednesday went observed a day-long strike protesting the Amarinder Singh government's decision to dissolve all the 134 truck unions in the state.

"93,000 truckers kept their vehicles off roads today," Punjab truck union chief Happy Sandhu told PTI.

He said close to four lakh families in the state earn their livelihood through truck business.

The truckers held dharnas at all the block levels in the state, he said adding that the protest was joined by CPI (M), SAD and Aam Aadmi Party activists.

"The protesting truckers submitted memoranda to sub-divisional magistrates (SDMs), addressed to Chief Minister Amarinder Singh, demanding cancellation of the decision to dissolve all truck unions, numbering around 134, in Punjab," Sandhu said.

He flayed the state government for holding truck unions allegedly responsible for the failure of manufacturing sector in Punjab.

"Industry has failed because of faulty policies and vested interests of political parties in Punjab and not because of truckers," he said, adding that industry failed in industrial towns like Rajpura, Gobindgarh, Khanna, Ludhiana, Jalandhar and Batala despite the fact that there is no truck union in these towns.

"On the contrary, despite the presence of very strong truck unions in nearby industrial towns like Tahliwal, Nalagarh, Baddi and Ponta Sahib falling in adjoining Himachal Pradesh, industry has been flourishing at a rapid pace just because of the fact that the state (Himachal Pradesh) has a very strong industrial policy," Sandhu said. — PTI