The members of the Confederation of Surface Transport (Tamil Nadu) will stage a protest in the city on July 30 to press for various demands including the lifting of ban on entry of lorries and vans into Chennai during day time.
R Sugumar, president of the confederation said the city police commissioner should take action against traffic police who book false cases and impose fines without handing over a receipt.
“We have been given entry between 11 pm and 4 am. We want parking space at the city’s entry points- Poonamallee, Tambaram and Maduravoyal. We want withdrawal of the hike in diesel and petrol prices. If there is no action even after our protest, we will go on an indefinite strike,” the president added.
Over 1,000 lorries will not run from July 17 to Puducherry expressing solidarity with the transport and lorry owners who are on an indefinite strike in the UT. The strike was announced seeking the allotment of terminal for heavy vehicles.
“The government passed an order in 2008 to set up a terminal at an area of 37 acre for lorries. Now, they say that they will give us an alternative place as they want to give the land for an IT park. We have stopped loading from Monday,” claimed Sugumar.
The confederation, which has 5,000 lorries operating to Kerala everyday, has also expressed support for the indefinite strike in that State from July 20 against the delay in issuing clearance for lorries at the Walayar check post.
“Walayar is the only entry point for commercial vehicles to Kerala as they have four check posts for central excise, customs, forest and sales tax. But they take 24 to 34 hours to clear while in TN vehicles are cleared in one hour,” M Vasudevan, secretary of the confederation said.