Truckers call off indefinite stir in Kochi

Kochi: Truck owners on Monday withdrew the indefinite trailer lorry strike proposed to be held at Kochi port from December 5 over inadequate parking facilities following assurances given by district collector K Mohammed Y Safirulla in a reconciliation meet. In the parleys held with the Employees Union Co-ordination committee, the collector promised truck owners that he would make available adequate parking facilities on a four-acre plot of land owned by the Bharat Petroleum Corporation (BPCL) at Vallarpadam before January 26.

“It was also agreed in the meet to make temporary parking facilities for 60 trailers at Arpita Yard at Vallarpadam without levying any toll. This is to facilitate the yard construction work at the BPCL-owned land,” the collector said.  BPCL had received five acres opposite ICTT on lease from Cochin Port Trust in August and had paid upfront the premium of Rs five crore. It had also drawn up an estimate of Rs four crore for constructing the facility which could be launched only on receiving a mandatory NOC from the district administration.

Meanwhile, the Port Trust promised to make available 10-acres of land inside the Special Economic Zone near Vallarpadam Container Terminal for setting up parking facilities. “We will complete the proceedings for this before April,” Port Trust Secretary Gowri S Nair said. A decision was also taken to convene a meet to be chaired by Port Minister Kadannappally Ramachandran by next month to assess the measures taken so far to address the lack of parking space for nearly 500 trucks proceeding to the international container terminal and back.