Chennai, Mar 3 (IANS): Small traders and businessmen from the outskirts and neighbouring villages of Chennai have started using their discarded bullock carts for transporting goods and commodities to the capital city.

Anandan Muthunayagam (31), a small trader who does business in groundnuts, is now a regular with bullock carts. He was earlier using a mini truck to transport goods to Chennai.

Muthunayagam told IANS over phone, "I do have a mini truck which I will be disposing of soon if things move like this. I was spending more than Rs 550 per day on fuel alone when I was using the mini truck for transportation of goods, but now with my old bullock cart, my expenses have come down to Rs 150, which is the cost required to feed the bullocks."

While there have been umpteen number of protests in Tamil Nadu organised by the truckers and auto drivers' associations, the step taken by Muthunayagam is a genuine one as he is not able to afford the fuel cost for his vehicle.

Muthunayagam said, "We can't save anything if we use the mini truck. But with the bullock carts in place, we can atleast get something to eat at the end of the day."

Rajamanikyam, a small onion trader attached to the Koyambedu market, told IANS, "Me and a few of my friends are now using bullock carts to come from the village to the Koyambedu market. I purchase onions from the market and sell them in other localities using my bullock cart for transportation. There has been a considerable dip in expenses ever since I started using the bullock cart."

Chennai recently witnessed an agitation by the truck owners' association who had staged a protest with several trucks and a few bullock carts. While that was a symbolic protest, the method adopted by Muthunayagam and Rajamanikyam has caught the attention of the city dwellers.