Minister for Road Transport and Highways Nitin Gadkari has opened channels of talks with transporters who have threatened to go on strike from October 1 to protest massive corruption at toll plazas.
“The Minister (Gadkari) has invited transporters to join for talks as he said that going on strike not harm their activity but will go against the nation’s interest,” said an official from the Ministry.
It is estimated that in the case of a transporters nation-wide strike, the country would suffer losses to the tune of Rs1,500-1,700 crore per day on account of a total halt of essential supplies.
“The Minister has appealed to the transporters’ body, the All-India Motor Transport Congress (AIMTC) to withdraw the decision of strike,” said the official.
Transporters’ body AIMTC, which claims to represent 93 lakh truckers and 50 lakh bus operators, has announced an indefinite nation-wide strike from October 1 against the toll collection system, saying it has become a tool for corruption and harassment.
The AIMTC has maintained that it’s ready to pay a higher toll, but that should be collected as indirect tax because of harassment by different agencies.
Earlier, Road Transport and Highways Secretary Vijay Chhibber too had appealed AIMTC to call off the decision to go on strike.
“The issue is not the toll amount as they are not against toll payment. They are feeling harassed in the hands of the agencies extorting bribes, which will continue to harass them irrespective of toll,” said Chhibber.