Indian truckers call off eight-day strike

January 12th, 2009 NEW DELHI - A day after the truckers called off their eight-day agitation, movement of commodities started resuming on major highways Wednesday, even as supplies of fruits and vegetables continued to take a hit in some areas. Transport companies said they expected normalcy to return by Wednesday evening.

January 11th, 2009 NEW DELHI - In a development that would bring relief to households and the corporate sector alike, Indian transporters called off their eight-day nationwide strike Monday after agreeing to the government's proposal for a mechanism to look into their demands, including a single national permit and cut in diesel prices. The government Monday agreed to form a committee headed by Transport Secretary Brahm Dutt to look into issues such as a single national permit for truckers to ensure their free movement across states and rationalisation of service tax.

January 11th, 2009 NEW DELHI - Representatives of truckers associations are expected to meet the government here later Monday, the eighth day of their nationwide strike, after several states invoked the law against them and arrested some of their members. A senior government official confirmed that a group of leaders representing truckers are expected to meet either Surface Transport Minister T.R.

January 9th, 2009 NEW DELHI - Transport Minister T.R. Baalu Saturday urged leaders of truckers across the country to come for talks and to end their six-day-old strike that has hit the economy hard.

January 9th, 2009 LUCKNOW - The prices of essential commodities, particularly foodgrains, are rising in Uttar Pradesh due to the nationwide truckers strike called by the All India Motor Transport Congress (AIMTC), a trade body official said Saturday. The prices of pulses like lentil that are largely imported from Maharashtra and Madhya Pradesh have shot up in the wake of the strike, according to Lucknow Dal and Rice Miller Association.

January 9th, 2009 BHOPAL - The nationwide truckers' strike which entered the sixth day Saturday has started having an impact on vegetable supplies and prices in Madhya Pradesh, though grocery supplies have not been affected yet. Vegetable prices have started rising though truckers associations have listed the commodity as as essential, along with milk, fruits, medicines, petrol, diesel, kerosene and cooking gas, which are to be transported despite the strike.

January 8th, 2009 NEW DELHI - The government must talk to striking truckers on their 'reasonable demands' to end the hardships of the common man, Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader L.K. Advani said Friday.

January 8th, 2009 NEW DELHI - The Delhi government will be enforcing the National Security Act to bring normalcy in fuel and food supplies, Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit said Friday after an urgent cabinet meeting to discuss the worsening situation in the national capital following a strike by oil company officers and truckers. Senior officers of Delhi Police and oil companies also attended the meeting.

January 7th, 2009 NEW DELHI - Truckers Thursday said their nationwide strike will continue, even as traders said the four-day-old agitation has hit supplies of essential commodities. Over six million trucks went off the roads across India in the early hours Monday, with transporters demanding that diesel and tyre prices be lowered.

January 6th, 2009 NEW DELHI - Indian truckers, whose nationwide strike entered the third day Wednesday, are hoping that the government will talk to them to end the impasse arising from their demands that includes a diesel price cut. A senior board member of All India Motor Transport Congress (AIMTC), that called the strike, told IANS it is 'likely' that the government will call the transport body for talks.

January 6th, 2009 NEW DELHI - With no government response coming forth to their agitation, Indian truckers vowed to continue their three-day old nation wide strike even as prices of essential commodities started rising in several parts of the country. 'We vow to continue our nationwide strike till our demands are met,' Charan Singh Lohara, the president of the truckers' apex All India Motor Transport Congress, told IANS Wednesday.

January 5th, 2009 NEW DELHI - The Indian economy could lose Rs.10 billion (Rs.1,000 crore) daily on account of the indefinite nationwide truckers' strike, a premier organisation of exporters said here Tuesday. 'Everyday, goods worth about Rs.1,000 crore are transported across India and this will get hit because of the strike,' said A.

January 5th, 2009 NEW DELHI - Striking truckers Tuesday accused the government of indifference and vowed to continue their agitation, even as a leading exporters' organisation said the country would lose about Rs.10 billion daily on account of the stir. 'The government has slipped from its commitment of the agreement it had reached with us.

January 5th, 2009 NEW DELHI - The nationwide indefinite strike called by truckers entered the second day Tuesday even as the government Monday threatened to invoke the Essential Services Maintenance Act (ESMA) if needed against the strikers. 'We will continue our nationwide strike until our demands are met,' said Charan Singh Lohara, the president of All-India Motor Transport Congress (AIMTC), the apex body of truckers.

December 23rd, 2008 NEW DELHI - Truckers have threatened to go on a country wide indefinite strike from Jan 5 if diesel price was not slashed by Rs.8 a litre. Vinish Khanna, joint secretary of the All India Motor Transport Congress (AIMTC), which has called for the strike, told IANS that transporters were dissatisfied with the diesel price cut of Rs.2, announced earlier this month.