23 Oct 2017 | 05:28am IST
Mining business not lucrative for truck owners anymore
PANJIM: Out in the mining country, truck owners who once earned Rs 16-18 lakh a year and around Rs 1.5 lakh a month per truck and that too after deducting expenses, during the boom period, are now making do with Rs 35,000-40,000 a month.
Team Herald
PANJIM: Out in the mining country, truck owners who once earned Rs 16-18 lakh a year and around Rs 1.5 lakh a month per truck and that too after deducting expenses, during the boom period, are now making do with Rs 35,000-40,000 a month.
The business is no longer profitable and it is estimated that truck owners face a loss of about 60 percent in their earnings as compared to their earning before the mining ban in September 2012, which has forced truckers to agitate for higher transportation charges.
In addition to the trucks, locals often also invested in mining equipment, which they would lease out to the mining firms.
But now, with restricted trips and a cap on mining, the business has reduced drastically and the earning per truck, per month is as low as Rs 35,000-40,000. There are 18,000 trucks registered with the department for plying ore, but only 8,000 are engaged in the business.
To keep the family economy running, some have found new avenues to earn money and diversified. Shops have been opened, and fields that had been left fallow now cultivated.
