Meet to finalise rates for mining trucks fails to break deadlock
HERALD CORRESPONDENT
SANGUEM, JAN 12
The meeting convened by a mining company to finalise rates for short trips at its Costi plant failed to break the deadlock, as company officials did not agree to the 35% hike demanded by the short-trip truck owners.
At a meeting in the company office at Khandepar, the tipper owners plying their trucks at the Costi Plant were allegedly sore when company officials asked them to remain for the meeting if they agreed to a 15% increase.
“As the truck owners were not satisfied with the proposed hike by the company, they walked out of the meeting without any further discussion,” informed a truck owner.
Incidentally, majority of the short-trip truck owners plying their trucks at Costi Plant are from Costi and Kalay villages and their livelihood is severely affected as the trucks are off road since the last over 16 days.
Some short-trip truck owners are solely dependent on their trucks and they are left with no source of income since the commencement of the strike in the last week of December.
A truck owner told Herald that since the company began its operation in the village, they have been assisting the company in the smooth transportation of their trucks at the Costi Plot.
“It is for the first time that we have been pressing for this demand,” claimed the truck owners. The affected truck owners later convened a meeting at the Costi Plant to discuss on future course of action.
“There are 107 trucks plying short trips at Costi and all the trucks will remain off the road till our demands are resolved,” informed truck owners.
The affected truck owners also warned of resorting to a road blockade with their families if the company tried to get outside trucks to ply at their mines for short trips.
