Following an assurance from the Punjab Government that their interests would not be hurt by its move, the state truckers on Wednesday called off their month-long protest against the government’s decision of disbanding of truck unions.
“We have decided to call off our ongoing protest against the state government’s decision to disband 134 truck unions,” All Punjab Truck Operators’ Union president Happy Sandhu said. The union claimed that small truck operators would suffer the most because of the abolition of truck unions as big companies would take over the business, posing a serious threat to the former’s survival in the business.
Sandhu said that Punjab Markfed chairman Amarjit Singh Samra on Wednesday arranged a meeting of truck operators with the Chief Principal Secretary to Chief Minister Capt Amarinder Singh, Suresh Kumar.
“Suresh Kumar ji assured us that our interests will be taken care of. No truck operator will face any financial loss and minimum and maximum freight will also be decided by the state government,” he said.
“We will now restart transportation of food grains,” he added. Punjab Government had approved the Punjab Goods Carriages (Regulation and Prevention of Cartelisation Rules), which barred goods carriage operators from forming cartels or unions in the state. During their agitation, the truckers had blocked traffic on some roads, held rallies and even burnt a few vehicles in the past one month.
The union had even filed a petition in the Punjab and Haryana High Court against the state government’s move of disbanding truck unions in the State.