Load of promises ends truck strike

The end of the strike, which only deepened the divide among truckers and prompted new allegations of ‘‘a sell-out’’ to the Government, was announced by Minister for Surface Transport B C Khanduri.

Petroleum Minister Ram Naik, among those who participated in the final negotiations with the transporters, agreed to ‘‘advise’’ oil companies to ‘‘prepone (advance) their revision’’ of fuel prices in keeping with the reduction in international prices.

Sources said the maximum that Naik could get his oil companies to cut diesel retail prices was Rs 2.32 per litre. Based on international prices between April 11 and April 22, FOB price of diesel came down by $ 1.646 per barrel. This translated to a required decrease of Rs 1,810.21 per kilolitre. Inclusive of taxes, the price drop could be Rs 2.32 per litre.

A reduction of diesel price by Rs 2 per litre by Friday, coupled with unchanged petrol prices, could help oil companies to recover some of the lost revenues, and keep the transporters happy. Oil companies are earning about Rs 3.80 on a litre of petrol by not cutting retail prices in line with the fall in global prices.

On the contentious issue of scrapping toll tax on four-lane highways, Khanduri made it clear the toll would not be abolished. But a committee would be formed, he said, to examine the quantum of toll to be charged from various types of transport vehicles.

The committee would comprise two representatives of the AIMTC and the remaining would be from the Government. On the demand to waive the Rs 10,000 excise duty on truck chassis, it was decided to refer the matter to the Finance Ministry. The excise duty was imposed in the Budget this year and the Finance Bill is due for passage in Parliament shortly.

On the demand for scrapping the 15-year-old age limit for heavy vehicles, Khanduri clarified no such decision had ever been taken by the Government. The only condition was all vehicles should fullfil the emission norms, fitness and road safety related norms.

‘‘Until the time the vehicle meets our emission and fitness norms, it can ply,’’ he said, adding states where courts have imposed age restrictions were free to go on appeal.

The Government also clarified that transport was a part of the services sector which did not come under the VAT regime.

On the trucker’s demand that insurance companies be disciplined to avoid any overcharging by a third party and overload premium, Khanduri assured that guidelines of the Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority (IRDA) would be strictly followed by the public sector companies.

He also issued a warning to states which had legalised overloading. Khanduri said that that the Centre would invoke the provisions of the Central Road Fund Act to block grants to states which had legalised overloading.

The truckers led by their Pune-based president Babasaheb Dhumal and their three zonal vice-presidents had been camping in Delhi since April 14, trying to wring concessions from the Government.

Dhumal claimed that the strike would have been called off four days ago when the ‘‘Government accepted seven of our 10 demands.’’ But minutes after Dhumal signed the agreement today, there were murmurs of dissent in the ranks.

Senior members of the AIMTC were calling the agreement ‘‘a sell-out’’ to the Government.

‘‘People are not satisfied with the agreement and we will have to discuss this in a meeting of the management committee,’’ AIMTC vice-president Shyam Kumar Gupta told The Indian Express. Other AIMTC members claimed Dhumal returned to Transport Bhawan only for the ‘‘ceremonial signing,’’ having already agreed to call off the strike.