The all-India indefinite strike announced by truck owners has cast a shadow on Chittoor district, which shares the border with Tamil Nadu and Karnataka.
After Vijayawada, Chittoor is said to be the next transport hub in the State, with more than 2,000 trucks based at the town and from here criss-crossing the national highways towards Chennai, Vellore, Bengaluru, Kurnool and Nellore. The strike has brought the transport sector to a virtual standstill in the district. Similarly, the transport hub of Renigunta, considered the entrance to Tirupati, has over 200 trucks. While 150 of them have been brought to a grinding halt, the remaining vehicles are currently travelling beyond the borders of Andhra Pradesh and are expected to reach home by night.
The major demand is to reduce the price of diesel and regulate the frequency at which the prices fluctuate.
“The diesel price in Andhra Pradesh is exorbitant. It is ₹6 higher than Karnataka, ₹4 higher than Tamil Nadu and ₹1.5 more than its price in Telangana. As the transport operators in those States offer competitive rates, we suffer from higher overheads,” says Sivasankar Prasad, manager of Sri Balaji Lorry Owners Association, Tirupati.
The operators also fume at the continuance of toll gates even after the expiry of their licence period and the steep toll fee charged at various gates.
Premium hike
Similarly, the third party insurance for trucks had risen from ₹12,000 to a whopping ₹48,000 in six years, the operators allege.
The double driver system sought to be introduced by the government to provide sufficient rest to the drivers and bring down the accident rate was also opposed by the operators on two grounds — shortage of trained drivers across the country and the fact that most of the drivers were themselves owners and do not want to share their earnings with others.