SALEM: Condemning the hike in petrol and diesel prices by about Rs 3 per litre, lorry owners in the state said the increase would only add to an already struggling transport sector’s financial burden as well as eventually lead to a rise in the prices of essential commodities.
Tamil Nadu State Lorry Owners Federation president C Dhanraj said the price increase has come at a time when lorry operators are already facing severe financial difficulties due to “rising toll charges, higher fitness certificate (FC) renewal costs, increasing spare part prices, and weak freight availability”.
While this spells difficulty for the public too, it is much harder for lorry owners as diesel consumption is high in every trip made, he added. “There is intense competition in the market and it is already difficult to find clients. Hence, lorry owners cannot simply increase rental charges citing diesel price rise,” he rued.
According to the federation, around 6.5 lakh lorries across Tamil Nadu are affiliated with it in addition to nearly 20 lakh mini lorries. A majority of the operators are small-scale owner-drivers earning between Rs 10,000 and Rs 15,000 per month. Most lorries provide an average mileage of only around 3.5 km per litre, making fuel expenses the single largest operational cost, Dhanraj said.
On the financial burden, he said most fuel pumps limit diesel filling to about 200 litres at a time, resulting in an additional burden of Rs 600 per refill, considering the increase by Rs 3 per litre.
A lorry may make only around Rs 2,000 in profit after other expenses. With the additional Rs 600 going towards diesel expenses itself, the profit is even meagre further. This is a crisis situation especially for single-lorry owners who also have to manage family expenses and loan repayments, he added. Further, the increase in diesel price would eventually lead to higher prices for spare parts and transportation charges, which, in turn, would affect the prices of essential commodities transported by road, the association president warned.
Echoing the concerns, another lorry owner, K Kumaraswamy, said the latest price increase could lead to a monthly loss of nearly Rs 10,000 for local operators. With a lorry on average consuming around 3,000 litres of diesel per month, the impact would be much higher for those vehicles operating across states, he added.
