PATNA: Bihar may face a shortage of essential commodities as the supply chain may be affected following an indefinite strike by the truckers from Friday midnight.
The Bihar Truck Owners’ Association has threatened to take trucks off the road for an indefinite period in protest against the ban imposed by the transport department on the transportation of sand and stone chips by the tricks of 14 to 22 wheels.
The department had recently passed an order directing the truckers not to raise the height of the body of trucks of 6 to 10 wheels above three feet.
Irked at this, the Association has called for an indefinite strike of the main mode of transportation of commodities.
Bhanu Shekhar Pd Singh-the president of the association told The New Indian Express: "Around 5
lakh trucks will go off the roads from Friday midnight crippling the supply chain of commodities, sand and stone chips in the state. The trucks will remain off the road till our demands are met."
Singh alleged that the truckers are harried a lot financially on roads and had suffered a colossal loss during the lockdown.
"When normalcy began to resume, the department has unnecessarily imposed a ban that carries no logic now,” Singh said.
Banty Kumar, owner of a truck, said that the department has the right to conduct random checks to curb overloading but that must be applicable for all commercial vehicles and not just truckers.
As per sources, if the strike continues for more than a week, Bihar may be hit with inflation.
According to a rough estimate, over 50,000 tons of commodities are transported across the state via trucks.