Lorry Strike Hits Coimbatore
Even as the truckers’ strike began on Tuesday night, lorry crew are busy drying their clothes atop their vehicles at the Ukkadam lorry terminal in the city on Wednesday. (right) Workers busy loading grocery items and other essential commodities onto buses at the Ukkadam bus stand. With trucks going off the roads here from Tuesday night in response to the nationwide strike call given by the All India Motor Trade Congress, transport of industrial goods is affected in the district. The district has about 60 lakh poultry birds moving out to various parts of the State and Kerala every week. It also has hundreds of textile mills that buy cotton from the Northern States and supply yarn to the weaving and knitting units in Tamil Nadu and other States too. According to a Southern India Mill Association official, with spiralling cotton prices several mills are buying cotton depending on everyday needs. Hence, they have stocks for just two or three days. “The mills apprehend shortage of cotton if the strike continues,” the official says. The garment sector in Tirupur is also affected. “But, the real impact will be felt in a couple of days if the strike were to continue,” says one of the exporters in the knitwear town. According to the Broiler Co-ordination Committee in Palladam, broiler birds are transported from Palladam and nearby areas to the retail outlets every day. The broiler farms will be hit if the strike continues. The strike has affected the vegetable trade at the Mettupalayam market.
According to Nilgiri Vegetable Chamber of Commerce R. Badrappan, arrival of vegetables such as potato, cauliflower, cabbage, beetroot and beans from Udhagamandalam and Thalavadi was affected to a considerable extent. The merchants even found it difficult to move the leftover vegetables, worth close to Rs. 15 lakh, which remained stagnated at the market for want of transportation to move them to retail markets. The strike is expected to affect vegetable trade, worth Rs 1.5 crore each day, the merchants said.
Mettupalayam Lorry Owners Association office-bearer M.K. Ponnusamy said that close to 2,000 trucks in the taluk involved in transportation of vegetables were off the road. The construction industry said that arrival of sand from the river beds to the construction sites was affected with nearly 5,000 trucks going off the road. Reports said that the construction activities continued with the available stock on hand at the construction sites. If the strike continued for a few more days, the industry apprehended shortage of sand. The brick kilns also reported a similar trend. Vegetable markets also reported a hike in prices of vegetables ranging from 65 paise to Rs. 1.30 per kg.
Collector V. Palanikumar along with District Revenue Officer S. Prabhakaran and a host of officials from the Transport Corporation, Transport Department, Petroleum Corporations, Cooperation Department and District Supply Officer reviewed the situation in respect of supply and stock of essential commodities. The Collector also urged the petroleum corporations to provide details regarding availability of fuel with each corporation and the number of days that it could cater to the market demand. He told the Corporations to monitor the daily situation in respect of stock, supply and market demand. Mr. Palanikumar also issued instructions for allowing transportation of vegetables and essential commodities in government and mini-buses to avoid scarcity.
