Karnataka lorry owners withdraw strike call after talks with traffic cops

The Federation of Karnataka State Lorry Owners and Agents’ Association withdrew its call for an indefinite strike that was to begin on Thursday at midnight.

Their grievance was the restriction on heavy vehicles entering Bengaluru during peak hours.

The call was withdrawn on Thursday night after a meeting with Special Commissioner of Police (Traffic) M A Saleem where association members explained their problems and were assured of solutions by the traffic police.

G R Shanmugappa, president of the association, said that they had withdrawn the call for the strike as “the traffic police accepted our inputs”.

Earlier in the day, Shanmugappa had called for an indefinite strike from Thursday midnight opposing the traffic police’s restriction on heavy vehicles in the city during peak hours.

Explaining the rationale behind the call, Shanmugappa said that banning the entry of vehicles that carry a load of more than three tonnes would mean that multiple vehicles would have to split the weight amongst themselves, causing more vehicles to ply the roads, thus increasing traffic.

“An empty goods vehicle weighs about four tonnes by itself. Previously, only vehicles that weighed a total of fewer than 7.5 tonnes, including kerb weight and the load they carried, were allowed to use the roads during peak hours. Now, the traffic police have agreed to consider letting vehicles carry up to 7.5 tonnes of load.”

Saleem told DH: “We have asked them for 15 days to discuss the pros and cons of allowing medium commercial vehicles on roads in the city during peak hours.”

He added that as per the 2014 notification issued by the traffic police, goods vehicles that weigh less than 7.5 tonnes are anyway allowed on roads during peak hours.