Truckers drive on tough lanes of competition

Truckers in the city and Krishna district face a piquant situation. Ten per cent of their community quits the sector every year due to heavy losses, but despite the losses two to three times that number taking the field in the same period.

With the demand for hiring trucks stagnating and the number of trucks growing overwhelmingly, truck rental rates have crashed. This has led to increased competition among the lorry operators even as more and more join the ranks of those leaving the industry.

Another significant development has been the increase in the number of single truck operators (operator-cum-drivers).

The percentage of such operators now hovers around 40. Truckers' leaders say that this has become a common phenomenon throughout the state, which boasts of having the highest number of commercial trucks numbering around 2,00,000.

The state also boasts of having the largest number of national permits, which contributes Rs 1,140 crore revenue to the state exchequer. Of the 25,000 trucks belonging to the Krishna district, 15,000 of them (12,000 national permits) come from Vijayawada city.

With trucks being freely available; permits are more freely sanctioned, and private financiers vie with one other to advance lorry loans at throwaway 4-5 per cent interest to aspirants.

Consequently, a large number of uneducated youths with some financial background have entered the trucking business.

With single operators slowly gaining ground, most of the operators, who hire drivers, have ended up being losers. This has led to an unhealthy competition among operators.

Speaking to Business Standard, M V Subba Rao, general secretary of the Andhra Pradesh Lorry Owners' Association, said that the state government agencies ware harassing the truckers.

The state, he said, asked panchayats and municipalities not to collect illegal 'aseelu' (cess) from truckers.

Despite a government order in this regard, the municipal and panchayat authorities were forcibly collecting the same from them. The truck operators also paid user chargers for getting the same things done at the Road Transport Offices. This amounted to fleecing the operators twice as the amounts were collected for the same purpose.

Subba Rao said oil bills formed three-fourth of the lorry operators' expenses. During the present NDA government's regime, the oil rates have gone up 29 times and they came down only seven times. The truckers are now demanding the revival of the Oil Pool Account abolished some time back and transparency in oil price hikes.

The Centre, he said, was collecting Rs 1.50 per litre of diesel from truckers, which was diverted for the construction of roads connecting metros and major cities in the country.

"But the Centre has introduced the much hated toll-gate tax at selected points on these roads separated by a few kilometres. For example at Kaza on Guntur-Eluru road Rs 140 is collected after just 43 km. The driver shells out another Rs 65 at Kottipadu and again Rs 65 at Kalaparru after travelling another 29 km. This means a trucker pays Rs 270 for travelling a distance of just 72 km," he pointed out.

"This tax should be abolished forthright and the government could collect another 10-20 paise per litre diesel from the truckers. This would eliminate the role of the third party also in the collection of toll tax," he felt.

The Centre and the state government followed different policies on the issue of loads that the trucks carried, he said.

"The states are encouraging overloading by offering golden and silver cards (Rs 5,000-10,000) to the truckers. The operators load 10-tonne trucks with 15 tonnes and 17-tonne trucks with 30 tonnes and more. We told the government to punish erring members . But the government is silent on the measures that are being voluntarily suggested by the association," he said.