Day 3: Truck union continues protest

Tribune News Service

Mohali, December 18

Members of the All India Truck Ekta Union continued their protest for the third day today against the state government for not fulfilling their demands.

However, truckers did not block road today. They sat on a dharna at the Chhat village traffic lights on the Zirakpur-Patiala highway.

Amandeep Singh, district vice-president, All India Truck Ekta Union, said they would continue protest and block the traffic movement daily till their demands were not fulfilled.

He said they want that the Channi government should revive truck unions and increase rates of transport as truck operators were already suffering losses due to the economic shutdown.

Their other demands was that the transportation of wheat/jerry, which is given by the Punjab Government to contractors, should be directly given to associations, he added. Contractors were forcing truckers to do only 40 to 50 per cent of the transportation work, he said.

Truckers were being forced to overload truck thus not only violating the law, but also causing losses to them, he added. Due to the Covid pandemic all types of trucks and haulage vehicles could not get business during the past two years, he said. So, their road tax dues should be waived off as such relief was provided to bus operators in Punjab, he added.

If their demands were not met they would intensify agitation and hold a state-level protest, he said.

The step to abolish truck unions had created a syndicate, which monopolised the trucking trade resulting in losses to both owners and traders, he added.

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