Abolish private stock yards, give sand to lorry owners: Sangam

Talking to reporters here, Association General Secretary MK Nagappan said the government should also constitute a separate welfare board for the Lorry owners.“The government, through the PWD department, should provide sand to lorry owners directly for which a separate welfare board has to be constituted,” he added. 

He also wanted the government to abolish all private stock yards (second sales points) across the state and bring them under the control of government. 

Apart from condemning non-provision of sands for the members of his association for the last four years, Nagappan also wanted the government to stop transporting of sand taken from river beds, to private stock yards with the alleged connivance of the PWD officials. He said the government has been losing a revenue of Rs 8,000 crore per year as the sand was sold in second sales points at Rs 5,500 for two units and Rs 8,500 for 3-1/2 units as against the governmentfixed price of Rs 1,050 for two units and Rs 2,100 for four units. 

Claiming that sales tax bills were not provided in these sales points, Nagappan said the government has been losing several crores as revenue for the last several years.

“If the government failed to take steps to prevent this, a petition will be filed in the High Court on behalf of all lorry owners,” he added. Nagappan also urged the government to roll back the hike in VAT on diesel as it would affect the lorry owers significantly. 

Referring to the hike in VAT on diesel from 21.4 per cent to 25 per cent, Nagappan termed it as a steep increase. that would have adverse impact on many products, including vegetables, as diesel vehicles were predominantly used in the transportation of commodities.