Tamil Nadu truckers join nationwide strike against new Motor Vehicles Act

SALEM: Truckers in the Salem-Namakkal belt, who form the bulk of lorry and truck operators in Tamil Nadu on Thursday struck work in response to the nationwide call by commercial vehicles transport operators to protest the exorbitant fines and other penal provisions under the newly amended Motor Vehicles (MV) Act enacted by the Central government.

Nearly four lakh of the 4.65 lakh truckers in Tamil Nadu were off the roads today as the joined the dawn-to-dusk protest, leading to stagnation of nearly Rs 100 crore worth goods which remain stranded due to the strike, said Mr C Dhanraj, treasurer of the Tamil Nadu Lorry Owners Federation treasurer, here today.

He said there has not only been a very steep hike in the fines for various road rules violations, but the costs of registration of vehicles and third party insurance have also shot up much beyond the truck operators capacity.

Hike in NH toll rates and diesel price have also added to their woes that the goods transport business in Tamil Nadu faced a severe slump, he said, adding, 50 per cent of the truckers were not even able to cover their operational costs now and were not even getting their receivables.

Considering the long-term viability of the industry is at stake, Mr. Dhanraj said the new Act has severely hit the truckers all over the country and added that the Central government should immediately withdraw the amended MV Act.

A delegation of the Lorry Owners Federation, later gave representations on their demands to the Chief Minister, Mr. Edappadi K Palaniswami and Transport minister M. R. Vijayabhaskar in Chennai.

Its representative Murugan Venkatachalam said they urged the Tamil Nadu government not to implement the new MV Act.