Lorry strike: Parties ask govt to hold talks with owners

PMK founder S Ramadoss asked why the Centre was adamant and not coming forward to hold talks with the striking lorry owners. The lorry owners had warned that they would stop carrying all essential commodities like water, milk and medicines since the government had not invited them for negotiations.  

In the last four days, the country had suffered a loss of Rs one lakh crore due to the strike and the loss would go up by Rs 25,000 crore with each passing day, he said. CPM State secretary K Balakrishnan said the demand for essential commodities had gone up considerably. The lorry owners had conducted two similar agitations in the past and they had commenced the third strike since no action was taken to solve their problems, he said. 

Meanwhile, the vegetable market in Mettupalayam near Coimbatore remained closed on Tuesday to condemn the stone pelting incident on a TN lorry in Kerala on Monday, which resulted in the death of a cleaner.

October 2015: Lorry owners went on a five-day strike, from October 1 to October 5, demanding the scrapping of toll plazas and  simplification of the TDS procedure. Union Minister Nitin Gadkari held talks with the representatives of lorry owners’ association and assured that their demands would be considered. Based on the assurance the strike was withdrawn

The Lorry owners in south India  staged a 10-day strike,  from March 30 to April 8, demanding the reducing of the third party insurance premium amount, amount collected in RTOs and the VAT imposed on diesel. The government held talks with the lorry owners and assured that the third party insurance premium would be reduced from 40 to 27 per cent and rolled back the amount hiked in RTOs. After the assurance, the lorry strike was withdrawn 

Lorry owners staged a two-day strike on November 9 and 10 demanding the roll back of GST, ending the daily changes in fuel prices and scrapping the toll plazas but their demands were not met

Lorry owners across the country staged a strike on June 18 condemning the daily hike in diesel price, increase in third party premium amount by 30 per cent and annual hike in toll fee. However, on June 21, the strike was withdrawn after the government assured to look into their demands