Prices hold as truckers’ stir begins

Prices of flowers, however, fluctuated wildly, selling at even double their usual cost, according to president of the Brihanmumbai Vegetable and Flowers Association, Vijay Kumar Dalvi. After a 40-per cent price rise in the morning, prices however stabilised by noon.

Supply of vegetables from Nashik wasalso affected, with a spokesperson of the Agricultural Produce Market Committee saying only eight truckloads had left for Mumbai against an average 50. The district authorities had made special arrangements to send the convoy during the night.

With around 50,000 vehicles in Mumbai and 2.5 lakh in the state staying off the roads, transport operators are losing business worth about Rs 50 crore daily while the government is losing Rs 10 crore in revenue.

In a stern message to transporters, Chief Minister Narayan Rane said private transport companies who have contracts with the government will face termination of their contracts if they participate in the agitation. District collectors are empowered to hire vehicles to ensure uninterrupted supply of essential commodities. Collectors have also been instructed to confiscate trucks. The agriculture produce market committees can purchase and sell products in their premises, he said at a press conference today.

Making no commitment regarding revoking the toll,Rane said the government was ready to reduce the cess after “thoroughly scrutinising transporters’ demands and constraints on the government”.

However, he said, the government would not initiate talks with transport unions till the latter called off their agitation.

Calling the strike `illegal’, he said: “Those involved in obstructing the smooth functioning of the transport system or black-marketing will be booked under the Essential Commodities Act.” Rane also said the government would challenge the Bombay High Court judgement striking down collection of toll at the Dahisar and Vashi check nakas, in the Supreme court.

The Maharashtra State Road Development Corporation raised Rs 1,550 crore through public bonds to build 55 flyovers in Mumbai, Thane and Navi Mumbai. Defending the toll collection, the chief minister said,“ The money has to be repaid over a period of time. The toll was meticulously calculated after a thorough study and if it is to be suddenly reduced, time is required to scrutinisethe proposal and its effect on the repayment schedule.”

However, president of the All India Association of Industries, Vijay Kalantri, disagrees. He said flyovers have been constructed in other cities as well but the governments in those states have not levied any toll to meet construction expenses.

President of the Federation of Bombay Motor Transport Operators, Raghbir Singh Gill, argued that levying a toll at the entry points would defeat the very purpose of building the flyovers as this would hold up traffic by at leats 30 minutes at the five nakas.

He also claimed that the MSRDC had offered various atlernatives to the state government such as a surcharge on disel and petrol but the government had refused.