Team Herald
PERNEM: Pernem truck owners kept around 150 vehicles off-the-road on Wednesday demanding that the government pay the market rate for overall transportation for the State projects.
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Protesting at Satarda-Naibagh Junction, they further threatened to continue their protest by keeping their trucks off-the-road till their demands are met.
Pernem Truck Owners’ Association president Milind Shetye said for the past one year they have been agitating and demanding the market rate of their transportation service.
“From last year we have been agitating. Our only demand is that the market rate be given for our transportation service. The fare is not as per the market rate due to which we cannot afford diesel and earn a living. The charges of transportation should be between Rs 14 and 15 per km as assured by Chief Minister. However, we don’t even get Rs 6 per km. If the diesel charges are Rs 2,000, what we get is only Rs 700”, Shetye said.
“Every time we approach the company, it only assures us that it will hike the rates but till date nothing has happened. We have decided to keep the vehicles off-the-road as we are not getting the proper transportation fare and we will continue to remain off-the-road till our demands are met”, Shetye said.
The truck owners said they provide their services for Mopa Airport Project where they transport mud from Insuli, Maharashtra to Mopa site. They claimed that the vehicles from other talukas and from Maharashtra are hired for the transportation service and the sons of the soil are left out.
“Since this project is coming up in Pernem we demand that preference be given to locals with the market rate for the transportation service”, they demanded.
The truck owners said they even approached local MLA and Deputy Chief Minister Manohar Ajgaonkar with their demands, who assured to solve their problems but in vain.
“We demand that first preference be given to Pernem locals along with the market rate. We are not asking for jobs from the government but only want to run our vehicles and earn our living”, they said.
The truck owners claimed that thousands are directly and indirectly affected.
