Farmers’ Dilli chalo march takes a toll on private transporters

Ravinder Saini

Rohtak, February 14

The farmers’ Delhi march has taken a toll on the private transport industry as transporters have halted supplies of goods to Punjab, Chandigarh and northern Haryana following the fear of their vehicles being trapped during the protest.

Since the entry of commercial vehicles and tractor-trailers has also been restricted in Delhi hence they are unable to transport the goods to the national capital and adjoining areas. Hundreds of commercial vehicles have remained off-road in Rohtak and Jhajjar districts in the past two days.

“Paints, wall putty, scraps, cold drinks, grocery items and nut-bolts are supplied daily to various places in Punjab, Chandigarh and northern part of Haryana from Rohtak in over 250 vehicles but none of the vehicles has gone there in the past two days. We cannot put drivers’ lives at risk as the roads are blocked and traffic diverted at various places in view of the farmers’ protest,” said Satpal Singh, president, Rohtak Public Goods Motor Association, New Grain Market, Rohtak.

Singh said since Monday onwards they had also stopped the goods supplies to Delhi. “The situation is causing losses to the transporters as they are bearing fixed expenses such as payment to the drivers and conductors, loan instalments to the bank without any earnings,” he added.

Mangal Gulia, president, Bhai-Chara Truck Operators’ Welfare Association, Jhajjar, said no transporter in Jhajjar district had been loading their vehicles since Sunday following the fear of the road blockade, violence en route to Punjab and Chandigarh. “A rake of goods train loaded with refined oil is parked in Jhajjar but no transporter is ready to supply the oil to various parts of Punjab, Chandigarh and Delhi. We all are waiting for the situation to normalise to resume transportation,” he added.

Narinder Chhikara, senior vice-president, Footwear Park Association, Bahadurgarh, said besides footwears, other products in large quantity were also transported to various godowns in the Delhi region from the Bahadurgarh Industrial area daily.

“But the commercial vehicles remain off road since the past two days leaving the industrialists worried as they do not have much space to stock the products on their premises. Moreover, raw materials are not coming following the restriction imposed on heavy vehicles in Delhi in view of the farmers’ protest,” he added.

Chhikara said the industrialists would be forced to halt the production if the situation remained the same in the coming days as well.