Cuttack: Goods transport was hit across Odisha on Friday morning as the Odisha State Truck Owners’ Federation (OSTOF) joined the indefinite nationwide truckers stir call given by the All India Motor Transport Congress (AIMTC).
Barring essential transport like milk and medicine, there will be no transport of other commodities as decided by the Federation.In Cuttack, thousands of trucks were found parked inside the goods shed. Besides, there has been no transport of ores in Keonjhar, Sundargarh and Angul districts.
The major demands of the AIMTC are rollback hike in fuel price, inclusion of petrol and diesel under GST purview, disbanding toll gates on National Highways, no hike in third-party insurance, no collection of TDS premium and simplification of rules for direct loading and unloading of raw materials in ports.
Keeping the nationwide truckers stir in view, the Odisha government on June 4 had invoked the Essential Services Maintenance Act (ESMA), 1988.
In a notification, the Home department said the ESMA order will remain in force for six months. During the period, no transport association in the state can go on a strike and action would be taken against those violating the order.
The department has also made it clear that the strike by the mineral transport association would incur huge revenue loss to state government as well as the Centre.
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