Members of Nalagarh truckers’ union booked for intimidation

Solan, December 29

The Baddi police today registered a case of criminal intimidation and wrongful restraint against members of the Nalagarh Truck Operators Union (NTOU) for forcibly stopping a truck hired from outside and attempting to snatch its papers this evening at Baddi.

Bone of contention

The dispute between the Nalagarh truckers’ union and the Baddi Barotiwala Nalagarh Industries Association has arisen once again after the former increased the freight by 12 per cent for certain distances without taking the association members into confidence.

DSP Priyank Gupta said a complaint was received from Rajiv Aggarwal of Him Techno Forge in which he alleged that five or six truck operators had stopped a truck bound for Lucknow and tried to snatch the papers near Sikka Hotel in Baddi this evening.

A police team, which reached the spot, escorted the truck till the inter-state barrier and a case under Sections 506, 341 and 34 of the IPC has been registered against the culprits who had come in a car but had fled on seeing the police team.

Notably, a dispute has once again arisen between truckers and the Baddi Barotiwala Nalagarh (BBN) Industries Association after the former increased the freight by 12 per cent for certain distances without taking the association into confidence.

The association has opposed the hike and has been trying to hire vehicles from outside the state which they claim were cheaper to meet their everyday needs. This has become a soar point between the two and today’s incident was a fallout of this animosity.

Rajeev Aggarwal, president, BBNIA, said, “Since no discussion was held with the NTOU to increase the freight, we wrote to them to withdraw this hike but nothing has been achieved in settling the dispute till now.”

He said the Chief Minister, Industries Minister and the Deputy Commissioner, too, had been apprised of the unilateral hike in the freight which was already higher than prevailing rate in the area. The NTOU, on its side, has been claiming that the hike in freight was justified in view of the increase in insurance, permit fee, wages, fuel and other expenditures incurred in operating their vehicles.