Strike may prove costly

Chhasathia said vegetable prices would shoot up by around 15 to 20 per cent if there was no roll-back. quot;The problem will become all the more acute for traders and consumers if truck operators persist with their strike because, in that case, prices of vegetables would increase by 50 per centquot;, he added.

President of the Ahmedabad Grain Merchants8217; Association Banshi Patel also felt that the strike would send grain prices spiralling. quot;Prices will also go up if truck operaters decide to increase freight chargesquot;, he said adding, quot;the impact of increased freight charges would slowly be felt by the wholesale grain marketquot;. The grain market, according to Patel, has not felt the impact as yet because it has started getting supplies of the fresh rice crop grown locally.

quot;We will not be affected much by the hike in diesel prices because diesel is such a fuel that no one can put restrictions on its salequot;, secretary of the Ahmedabad Petroleum Dealers8217; Association Mayur Mehta said. He, however, was quick to point out that in case truckers went ahead with their strike, there would be 100 per cent impact on the petroleum business.

Secretary of the Baroda Road Transport Association BRTA P M Vaghela told Express Newsline that the diesel price hike would increase transportation cost by 20 per cent and hit the transport industry hard.

quot;We are in the red because the number of goods carriers in the country has been increasing at the rate of 1 lakh trucks per year, whereas the quantity of transportable goods has not increased correspondinglyquot;, the Akhil Gujarat Truck Transport Association honorary secretary Nimish J Patel said.

Members of the Transport Association of Rajkot, which will also join the strike if the price hike is not rolled back by October 21, also narrated their tale of woe.

Bharatsinh Jadeja of Rajkot8217;s Ashapura Transport said they would have to increase rates by Rs 1.35 per km to meet the rise in diesel prices and this would make it difficult for them to survive the tough competition. Recently, prices of other spare parts of trucks had also increased, he added.

A meeting of transporters has been called on October 14 in Ahmedabad to chalk out a detailed strategy for implementing the strike call. Another meeting will be held in Ahmedabad on October 16 where action committees at district level would be set up to ensure that the strike was cent per cent successful. And a final meeting would be held on October 20.

Senior executive of Transnational Transport Corporation S Bukhari was firm. 8220;We will stop operations from midnight on October 21,8221; he said.