The house owners and drivers of roughly six lakh vans in Karnataka agreed to name off their indefinite strike after Transport Minister Ramalinga Reddy accepted most of their calls for on Thursday.
The breakthrough got here after the Federation of Karnataka State Lorry Homeowners and Brokers’ Affiliation, led by its president, G R Shanmugappa, held a 3rd spherical of talks with Reddy.
The strike was primarily pushed by opposition to the current hike within the diesel worth. In June 2024, the diesel worth elevated by Rs 3 per litre, adopted by a further Rs 2 per litre hike efficient from April 1, owing to the state authorities elevating gross sales tax from 18.44 per cent to 21.17 per cent. This has resulted in a cumulative enhance of roughly Rs 5 per litre over the previous 9 months, considerably elevating operational prices for transporters.
Whereas the federal government didn’t comply with roll again the hike given the income it generates for the state, Reddy agreed to finalise another freight cost fixation mechanism inside three months to handle the affect of the current diesel worth hike. To offset the elevated operational prices for truckers, the federal government has dedicated to standardising freight charges (the charges charged for transporting items) to make sure the lorry business stays viable. The mechanism, which is analogous to the mannequin of ride-hailing aggregator platforms, will seemingly contain standardising freight charges to soak up the gas value burden.
Importantly, the protesters had sought reduction from the harassment by RTO officers at border checkposts. Reddy has assured the federation that he’ll take acceptable motion to handle their concern.
Truck house owners have been additionally protesting in opposition to the gathering of tolls at 18 state freeway toll cubicles, one thing that’s distinctive to Karnataka.
Reddy chatting with the media mentioned, “We are going to type a committee underneath the management of the transport commissioner and put together an in depth report. We are going to research how different states have applied this and substituted them with different revenue-generating fashions for the federal government.”
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On the “no entry” restriction and restricted morning window for lorries, particularly medium-sized autos, Reddy assured that he would maintain talks with the visitors police division to resolve the problem. He additionally mentioned that instructions can be issued to RTO officers to hold out bodily inspections of autos by 8 am, in view of restrictions on heavy autos inside Bengaluru metropolis. “We are going to maintain talks with the police division to loosen up the timings for medium-sized autos. We are going to direct transport officers to examine the autos as a part of the health certificates course of inside 8 am, to make sure motion of lorries won’t trigger visitors issues,” the minister mentioned.
Reddy additionally mentioned tractors utilizing their agriculture permits for business functions equivalent to dumping development waste can be strictly handled. “We are going to crack down on such tractors who transport particles and randomly dump it on the roadside,” he mentioned.
Reddy additionally agreed to course of on-line penalty cost strategies for fines imposed on lorry drivers and house owners by the Division of Security Inspection for visitors and transport-related violations. He additionally agreed to supply a reduction of fifty per cent on such penalties, topic to approval from the finance division and Chief Minister Siddaramaiah.
Moreover, the protesters additionally opposed the central authorities’s pointers to extend the health certificates renewal charge to Rs 15,000 for autos over 15 years outdated. Whereas this charge falls underneath state jurisdiction, the affiliation demanded that Karnataka chorus from implementing it, because it disproportionately impacts small and medium operators.
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Reddy mentioned the renewal charge revision can be saved in abeyance and that he would write to Union Street Transport and Freeway Minister Nitin Gadkari concerning the lorry drivers’ opposition to the charge hike proposal.