Chennai

“For the last two-three weeks, we have been faced with the driver’s shortage in the State. Most of the drivers come from outside Chennai. With the number of COVID-19 cases increasing in the city, drivers are reluctant to take loads to Chennai. In some cases, the family members were against the drivers going to the city,” said S Yuvaraj, spokesperson, All India Motor Transport Congress.

Amid the demands sought from the government in terms of soft loans, deferment of statutory compliances among others to prevent truck operators from going bankrupt, he said that the drivers’ shortage is posing a serious threat to the business. “Some of the drivers are staying back as they were afraid of being home quarantined if they return. It is really sad,” he said.

Karthik, a driver from Gandhi Nagar at Tiruchy said that he has been at home for the past 10 days after his first trip to Chennai created panic in his native. “After I returned from Chennai, I started getting calls and somebody had complained about my visit to the city to the VAO. Since then, I stayed back at the home,” he said, lamenting that he was earning up to Rs 25,000 a month before the lockdown and now he has no livelihood.

M Rajmohan, a transport operator said that the stigma over the trips to Chennai has become so much that he was forced to stay at home quarantine after he visited Thirumazhisai near the city. “We are transporting only essential items. If the drivers were made to remain in home quarantine after every trip, it would affect their livelihood. Only persons with the COVID-19 symptoms should be made to stay in isolation, not all,” he said.