Chennai, May 27 (IANS): The Tamil Nadu truckers' association has appealed to the state government to allow the reopening of repair and automobile spare parts shops.

Tamil Nadu Lorry Owners Federation( TNLOF) president Murugan Venkitachalam has submitted a representation to the state government in this regard.

Venkitachalam told IANS: "We are facing difficulties in repairing our trucks which develop mechanical and technical snags while commuting."

He said that the trucks are mostly involved in transporting essential goods like rice, milk, groceries, gas cylinders, wheat, fruits, vegetables, flowers and other necessary commodities.

The truck drivers also complained of police harassment during the second pandemic wave and after the state declared a total lockdown.

Ravichandran, a truck driver, said: "The truck drivers are being harassed a lot. The police use all the expletives they have and even try to beat us. It is very difficult for us to convince these policemen that we are returning after emptying the materials at the godowns. We need special passes from the police department, otherwise no one will venture out to transport essential items."

The truck owners association also requested the government to consider truck drivers and repair shop owners as frontline warriors and to provide them the necessary benefits.

Venkitachalam said, "We have created an awareness drive among the drivers and their support staff on the importance of vaccination and we need them to be covered under the frontline category so that there is no hindrance in the vaccination drive."

While some mechanics shops are open following permission by the government, the non-availability of spare parts is posing a problem.

T Raghu, a repair shop owner at Guindy, said, "The mechanics shops are open but how can we function without automobile spare parts. The spare parts shops are not allowed to function and we appeal to the government that the repair shops should also be allowed to function within a radius of 30 kms."