Times of India

Bangalore, Jan 17: From shortage of milk and vegetables to you not being ferried home in the office cab, brace yourself for the worst. The lorry, bus, taxi and maxi cab owners associations in the state will go on an indefinite strike from January 20 midnight if governor Rameshwar Thakur doesn’t agree to their demands. 

“We are meeting the governor and urging him to reconsider his decision on compulsory installation of speed governors. If nothing positive comes out of Thursday’s meeting, we will go ahead with the strike, which will cost the state a heavy sum,’’ said Federation of Karnataka State Lorry Owners’ and Agents Association president Shanmugappa. 

And heavy it is going to be, for essential commodities like milk, vegetables, petrol and diesel will be hit badly. The strike will also affect passengers of private buses, taxis and maxi cabs. The impact of the strike could be gauged from these figures: state consumes over 35 lakh litres of milk every day; daily, over 15,000 tonnes of vegetables are transported to other states from Karnataka; Bangalore alone consumes 6 lakh litres of petrol and 4 lakh litres of diesel every day. 

“There will be a major revenue loss to the state. Since we have support from other states too, no vehicles coming into Karnataka will be allowed. We will block all the checkposts,’’ said Shanmugappa. 

The maxi cab and motor cab associations have vowed to extend full support to this protest. Over 24,000 maxi cabs, and close to 15,000 cars are functioning in this sector throughout the state, thanks to the growing demand from the IT and BT sectors. “Close to 20,000 of these vehicles ply in Bangalore alone. We have appealed to these sectors on television to support us in this cause. If there is no solution, then we will definitely go ahead with the strike,’’ said Akhila Karnataka Maxi Cab and Motor Cab Owners’ Association president Bhairava Siddaramaiah. This means a loss to the tune of Rs 80 crore every day. 

Rudramurthy of the Karnataka Tourist Bus Operators Association said that the 5,000-odd private buses that ply within Karnataka, and over a thousand state buses will stop their services completely. “Although this means a loss of Rs 3,000 per vehicle per day, we are ready to brave this,’’ he added.

Fitness worries

Fitness certificates have not been issued to around 1,800 maxi cabs and cars, 13,000 lorries and 500 buses — which are already out of service. With the owners refusing to install the device, RTOs across the state have not issued fitness certificates for these vehicles to ply. The hearing on Wednesday where the high court was due for its ruling in this regard was adjourned, with the next hearing being scheduled for January 21.