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Speed governors issue: Transport assns defer indefinite strike

Last Updated 30 November 2015, 13:56 IST

 Owners of commercial vehicles, including cargo transport and private buses have deferred their plan to go on an indefinite strike from December 1 following an assurance by Karnataka Transport Minister Ramalinga Reddy to look into their demands pertaining to enforcement of speed governors regulations.

"We will wait for another two days. We will see what the government does and how things develop, and then decide on the strike", Karnataka State Lorry Owners and Agents Association President G R Shanmugappa told PTI here.

The members of transport associations met the minister following the Karnataka High Court upholding the transport department's directive for using speed governors and ordering them to approach the department in case of unavailability of the same.

They had filed a petition in the High Court seeking time till March 2016 for installing speed governors because of the shortage of the equipment in the state. The court, however, dismissed their petition.

The protesting members, during the meeting, asked the minister to find ways to make available speed governors or find out legal means to challenge the High Court order of making the installation of speed governors mandatory.

Speaking to reporters after the meeting, Reddy said, "We will talk to our Advocate General and also seek legal opinion of the law ministry, and find ways to redress the grievances of the transport associations."

The issue heated up after the vehicle operators decided to park all their vehicles rejected for fitness certificate on grounds of lack of speed governors at the premises of jurisdictional RTO offices from December 1.

Owners of commercial vehicles, including cargo transport and private buses had decided to take vehicles off the roads for an indefinite period from December 1 to protest Karnataka strictly enforcing the speed governor regulations "in a hurry."

In response to a central government order, the protesting transport associations are demanding that they be allowed to install speed governors after April 1, 2016. The order states that all lorries should be fitted with speed governors by this date.

Opposing the central government's order, Shanmugappa said lorry associations across South India are ready to install speed governors after April 1, 2016 in new vehicles, not old ones.

He said they were insisting on time because they can have inbuilt speed governors manufactured at the time of production of vehicles. He also wondered why the central government was going with the speed governors costing Rs 12,500 a piece, instead of Rs 2,500 which the other company was offering.

He also said the speed governors are a problem in themselves as any malfunction would cause the vehicle's breakdown as drivers are not trained to fix the problem, and there are hardly any speed governor service centres in the country.

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(Published 30 November 2015, 13:55 IST)

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