Vegetables, commodities’ shortages feared as truckers begin 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 - 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 10th, 2009 NEW DELHI - Avoid panic stocking of essential commodities or you may end up shelling out more money. According to the Market Produce Committee in Delhi, there is enough stock of all essential items to meet the demand in the national capital.

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 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 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 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 LUCKNOW - The ongoing nationwide strike of transporters has jacked up prices of essential commodities in Lucknow even as the Uttar Pradesh Truck Operators' Federation (UPTOF) said they would maintain the supply of essential goods. While the rates of fruits and vegetables have gone up 20-35 percent, the wholesale market is also witnessing price hike, vendors said.

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 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 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 CHANDIGARH - The truck operators' nationwide strike entered its second day Tuesday, leading to an anticipated shortage of vegetables and other essential commodities here and the neighbouring towns of Mohali and Panchkula. Thousands of trucks from Punjab and Haryana, as in the rest of the country, went off the roads midnight of Sunday-Monday following a strike call given by India's apex transporters' body, the All-India Motor Transport Congress (AIMTC).

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.

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 4th, 2009 CHANDIGARH - Local traders Monday threatened to go on an indefinite strike from Wednesday if barricades and checkpoints put up at entry points of the vegetables and grain market here are not removed. Representatives of various market associations also joined the grain market committee Monday to raise slogans against Chandigarh administrator S.F.