Southern lorry owners threaten indefinite strike over Cauvery issue

Claims good worth around Rs 15,000 crore was lost since lorries are not running between 2 states for 24 days

Lorry owners in the south have threatened to go on an indefinite strike if Tamil Nadu and Karnataka don't take steps to resume transport services between the two states.

They claim that lorries plying between the two states for the past 24 days have lost goods worth Rs 15,000 crore following the unrest prevailing at the state borders due to Cauvery issue.

Lorries were hit and burnt in Karnataka after the Supreme Court asked Karnataka to release water to Tamil Nadu.

The Lorry owners have said till date no solution has been found and already trade worth around Rs 15,000 crore has been affected. They asked the Government to release around Rs 20 crore as compensation for the damaged lorries.

They also want relief from paying tolls for one month and tax relief for three months to compensate the losses they incurred.

The said If the government doesn't address the issues and doesn't take steps to resume lorry operations between the two states, around 450,000 lorries will stop services for indefinitely from October 5.

He said, this will hit supply of petrol, gas and other essential products, besides affecting industries in these two states.