With the nationwide indefinite strike called by the truck operators entering its fourth day today, the government has further hardened its position against the protesters. On Thursday, five state governments — Gujarat, Delhi, Rajasthan, Andhra Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh — notified the Essential Services Maintenance Act (ESMA) to ensure smooth supply of essential commodities.
“ESMA has been notified in five states so far. We are still in touch with various other state governments. We have been assured that the states will take all necessary steps to ensure the smooth movement of essential commodities throughout the country,” said, Brahm Dutt, Secretary, Ministry of Road Transport and Highways, adding that the government was not going to budge from its stated position as most of the demands raised by the truckers were unreasonable.
Though the truck operations in most of the key industrial and manufacturing states continued normally, truck operators in some parts of the nation resorted to violence to enforce the strike.
According to information compiled by the Indian Foundation of Transport Research and Training (IFTRT), the agitating truck operators were able to disrupt free movement of trucks on trunk routes and in port areas in different parts of the country. While trucks moving towards Pune and Mumbai from Chennai were intercepted at the Tamil Nadu-Karnataka border, the agitators in Ludhiana, Khanna and Mandi Gobindgarh damaged the trucks taking cargo to the rest of the country.
Though the movement of essential commodities continued normally, government officials said the prices of perishable commodities like fruits and vegetables had increased by 5-10 per cent across the country following fears of a potential disruption in the supply of commodities.
