Team Herald
MARGAO: The Margao Salcete Truckers Association has demanded that only Goan trucks be used for transporting material from Mormugao Port Trust to anywhere in Goa. The association threatened to stop Karnataka-registered trucks being used for this purpose from Monday.
Briefing media persons, Vallabh Varad, treasurer of the association, said the contractor Mayuresh Services was using Karnataka-registered trucks with capacity to take more stock to transport coal from MPT to Goa Carbon Ltd at Sao Jose de Areal.
“While Goan trucks are not allowed to enter the factory as they have not been given the pass, nearly 40 trucks with Karnataka registration are allowed to enter the factory with coal,” he said while adding that around 25 Goan trucks are not issued the pass.
He said while the Goan trucks can take at the most 10 tonnes of stock the bigger trucks brought from Karnataka can carry up to 40 tonnes and that is the reason why they are preferred. Vallabh also said that the rate of Rs. 260 per tonne offered by Mayuresh Services is not feasible to them and they wanted to paid at least Rs. 350 per tonne.
“We earn only a few rupees per trip as we can take fewer loads while the Karnataka registered trucks having nearly four times our capacity can afford that rate as they earn four times what we earn in one trip,” he said.
President of the Association Franky Gomes revealed that the Sao Jose de Areal panchayat vode a ;etter dated 20th September 2017 had asked them to stop the huge trucks coming to their village as the roads being narrow they cause problems for the locals and pose a danger to the children.
“At that time because there were only about four trucks plying I kept quiet but now they have increased to 40 and they have to be stopped,” he said.
Vallabh while alleging that these Karnataka registered trucks are rumoured to be belonging to an MLA admitted that he did not know which MLA but revealed that many of the trucks have the “lotus” painted on them.
He said all material to Goa Carbon at Sao Jose de Areal, Goa Sponge and Shardha industries at Costi should be transported from MPT by Goa registered trucks and not Karnataka registered. “We do not mind them using outside trucks to take material from MPT to outside Goa,” he said.
While disclosing that they will be meeting Filipe Neri Rodrigues on Monday to urge him to raise up this matter in the Assembly, the association threatened to physically stop the Karnataka registered trucks from transporting material from MPT if the government does not intervene in their favour.
