Supply of construction material into Bangalore City will take a hit with truck and lorry owners deciding to go on an indefinite strike from Tuesday, protesting government policies on transportation of construction material.
Members of the Federation of Karnataka State Lorry Owners and Agents Association, after a meeting on Monday, decided to go ahead with the strike that will start at 12 noon on Tuesday. Construction activities in Bangalore will come to a halt, president of the federation G R Shanmugappa claimed.
According to him, around 15,000 trucks and 1,200 concrete mixers will be part of the strike, through which the federation proposes to highlight allegedly rampant corruption in various government departments. Though the truckers will strike work seeking redressal of various grievances, the key issue is the government policy on sand transportation.
“We want back the earlier system of permits, under which truckers used to pay around Rs 50 lakh to the government every month. However, that system was changed and truckers are still forced to pay the same amount, only this time as bribe,” Shanmugappa said.
The strike, according to Shanmugappa, will affect 36,000 drivers and cleaners, apart from two lakh construction labourers. The strike is supported by Karnataka Goods Transporters Association, Concrete Mixer Owners Association, Karnataka Construction Material Suppliers Association, Saraku Saganedarara Sangha and other associations.
Sand needs
Auctioning of identified sand-mining areas and stringent measures to check corruption in government departments are among the truckers’ major demands. Bangalore’s monthly requirement of sand for construction activities is 3,000 truckloads, while the State’s requirement is put at around 7,000 truckloads. Shanmugappa claimed that while the Department of Mines and Geology had identified 738 sand-mining locations, only 46 had been auctioned till date.
“Even while transporting sand from the auctioned sites, truckers are being harassed by the officials. The federation, in an initiative to check damage of roads, had issued stipulations against overloading of trucks. However, the authorities themselves are encouraging overloading, after taking bribe,” he said.
The federation plans to wait for the government’s response to the strike. If nothing positive comes through even after a week, the truckers will explore possibilities of striking work in the goods transportation segment as well, Shanmugappa said.
Truckers associated to another organisation — Federation of Karnataka Lorry Owners Association — are planning to take a protest rally against the ban on sand-mining on Wednesday, from Chamarajapet to Town Hall. Federation president Channa Reddy pointed out that while the government had agreed that Bangalore required a substantial quantity of sand, it was yet to formally announce locations from where sand could be sourced.
