Truckers call off Hazira bandh

The Hazira Truckers Association today called off its "Hazira bandh call". The association had called a bandh on Monday against the alleged highhanded attitude of the Shell Company which is setting up an LNG terminal at the Hazira sea coast, and its contractor the ECC of Larsen and Toubro (L&T).

The association called off the bandh call with the two companies acceding to the demands made by the truckers' body.

The meeting, which was held at the Surat Circuit House, was mediated by Olpaad MLA Dhansukhbhai Patel. Patel said, "All the three demands of the truckers have been accepted by Shell and ECC."

The truckers would now be allowed to ferry 11 tonne of stones from the Chikhli quarry in Navsari district to Hazira.

Secondly, the per tonne rate has been revised from Rs 232 to Rs 242, and thirdly for dumping the stones into the sea, the charges have been revised from Rs 260 per tonne to Rs 274.

The main demands of the truckers also include a hike in the current rates offered to the truckers who ply at the LNG station on contract.

Hazira houses the Essar Steel Ltd complex, the heavy engineering plant of L&T, the petro chemicals complex of Reliance Industries, the 1,200 mw gas-based power station of tNTPC, the urea plant of Kribhco.

the LPG bottling plant of IOC, the gas processing complex of ONGC and the Gujarat State Petroleum Corporation Ltd. plant.