CHENNAI: Jothi stood on a small patch of open land amid the dense mangroves along the Ennore Creek. In the backdrop are the gigantic towers of the North Chennai Thermal Power Station, spewing thick white clouds of smoke into the air. Wading into the marshes, Jothi searches for a spot to relieve himself. The lack of a bathroom to do his business doesn’t worry him as much as having to leave his truck unattended.
Jothi is a veteran in this trade, and is familiar with the hardships of long trips. Even to him, every trip to Ennore is exhausting. Jothi is among hundreds of truckers who transport fly ash from the power station to cement factories across the State. “We have to wait 4-5 days on an average to take the load,” he says standing outside the main gate of the power station, with sweat trickling down his forehead.
Jothi says the truckers do not know when their turn will come to enter the loading area. “The long, uncertain wait becomes excruciating as there is not a single bathroom in the entire area,” says Jothi, pointing towards the vast landscape full of mangroves and high-tension power lines. “There is no water here for drinking or bathing either.” The truckers work independently. They are employed neither by the power station nor by the cement factories. As a result, there is none to hear their hardships.
“We don’t want to complain about anyone,” says Raghu, who has been waiting for three days to load his truck. “But, it would be a big blessing if there was a bathroom here.” Their difficulties have only increased since the lockdown came into effect. “The closest shop is over a kilometre away. That too shuts down after 2pm. We have to walk down every morning in this heat and buy rations for dinner,” says Raghu. And, it’s not like the drivers can leave the truck and go away carefree for these chores.
“We have to be alert at all times, so as to not miss our turn,” says Jothi. “A power station staff will come and call out the truck numbers, and only those vehicles will be allowed to enter the road to the loading depot. Only two trucks are allowed at a time,” says Jothi, who has a contract to transport the load to Dharapuram.
“When all units of the plant are operational, around 50 trucks are loaded per day. But even then, we wouldn’t know when our turn would come,” says Ajith from Vridhachalam, who works as a cleaner.
Srinivasan, a trucker from Villupuram, is more worried about thefts that happen when the drivers are away. “They don’t spare anything. The first target is the battery. If the battery is gone we cannot start the vehicle. It’s difficult to keep a check on the vehicle while also having to keep running up to the gate to find out when our turn would come. Not every truck driver can afford a cleaner.”