Karnataka truckers’ strike continue as talks with chief minister Siddaramaiah fail

Bengaluru: Truck owners have decided to continue their indefinite strike after talks between office-bearers of the Federation of Karnataka State Lorry Owners’ and Agents’ Association and chief minister Siddaramaiah failed to reach a resolution Tuesday.
Truck owners had started the strike Monday midnight. The govt held two rounds of talks with the office-bearers, but both failed.
The federation had raised five key demands: Reversing the recent diesel price hike imposed by the govt through a Rs 2 per litre increase in sales tax, removing toll plazas on state highways, discontinuing checkposts on borders, halting implementation of central govt guidelines on raising fees for fitness certificates of commercial vehicles over 15 years old, and lifting restrictions on movement of commercial vehicles in Bengaluru.
Federation president GR Shanmugappa told TOI, “Our primary demands to withdraw hike in sales tax on diesel price and removing toll plazas on state highways were not entertained during the meeting. Hence, we have decided to go ahead with the strike and further intensify it. The hike in diesel cost has hit us badly. We demanded that the govt fix a rental rate for us — as they do with autorickshaws and taxis — to cover up the increased operational cost, but they did not positively respond to that.”

Transport minister Ramalinga Reddy said, “We’ve held two rounds of meetings with the truckers. They’re demanding that the state govt roll back sales tax on diesel, but interestingly, they haven’t raised any objections against the central govt, which has consistently increased fuel prices over the past decade. They’ve strongly opposed toll collection on state highways, but remained silent about NHAI, which collects tolls on national highways and hikes the rates every year. Why are their grievances directed only at the state govt?”
Mixed response on first day
Day 1 of the strike received a mixed response. Trucks carrying perishable items and other essentials such as fuel, gas were not largely impacted. However, in border areas, a good number of trucks coming from other states remained off the road.
B. Ravishankar, an onion trader at APMC Yeshwantpur, said, “On Tuesday, we received trucks transporting onion from northern parts of the state, Maharashtra and other locations. However, the number was 10% less than on normal days. We heard that, at some places, farmers delayed sale of vegetables due to the strike. Whether the strike will impact transportation of vegetables will be known only after Wednesday.”