Lorry owners strike enters sixth day: Supply of essential commodities hits
Bengaluru, July 25: The lorry owners strike being conducted across the country demanding toll-free movement, cutting of diesel price and other demands entered 6th day on Wednesday, affecting supply of essential commodities. As the goods careers stayed off the roads, the capital city is also experiencing the heat.
The supply of industrial raw materials hit the industry due to which small and medium industries have been suffering. On Wednesday, the number of goods vehicles coming from other states has come down. Normally, Bengaluru APMC usually receives 100 loads of potato and 200 loads of onion from Punjab, Uttar Pradesh, Haryana, Maharashtra and other states. Because of the strike, more than 100 loads of onion and potato lorries have not reached the city.
The intensity of the strike is gradually increasing. If the situation continues for another two days, the supply of essential commodities will affect considerably. Already, the prices of potato, onion, rice, pulses, and other things are skyrocketing and this has forced the people to stay away from the market, said Yeshwanthpur APMC Yard Merchants Association president BL Shankarappa.
Potato supply had come down for the last two days due to which, the prices have gone up. Before the strike, 50 kg potato cost Rs 750 to Rs 950. Now, Rs 50 was increased for the same quantity. Even they have not received potato from Hassan, he said.
APMC yard closed, protest
Lorry owners closed the Yeshwanthpur APMC Yard and staged a protest against the central government alleging that it has neglected the lorry owners demands in spite of conducting the strike for the last five days. So, they would not withdraw their strike till their demands were met, they said.
Federation of Karnataka Lorry Owners and Agents Association state president GR Shanmugappa said that they have been protesting for the last five days without affecting the normal life of the people. But the government has not come forward to fulfill their demands. So, they have decided to intensify their strike. As part of this decision, they would block roads, he added.
Lakhs of lorries were off the roads due to strike. Every day, the lorry owners were incurring a loss of Rs 1,000 Cr and the central government was incurring a loss of Rs 1 lakh crore and the state government was incurring the loss of Rs 7,000 crore revenue, he said.
No problem due to strike
KR Market Merchants and Consumers Association president RV Gopi said that there was no problem due to lorry strike so far. The greens and vegetables, fruits and flowers were being supplied in mini vehicles. Mini vehicles have been transporting the vegetables, fruits and flowers from Tamil Nadu, Kerala and Andhra Pradesh. The problem could be aggravated if the vehicular movement was completely stopped, he said.
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11 more bodies retrieved from Arunachal accident site
Itanagar (PTI): Eleven more bodies were retrieved on Saturday from the deep gorge in Arunachal Pradesh's Anjaw district, where a mini-truck on which 22 labourers from Assam were travelling fell, an official said.
With this, 17 bodies have been recovered from the accident site, Anjaw's deputy commissioner Milo Kojin said.
He said three more bodies will be brought out on Sunday.
The operation, being conducted by a joint team of the NDRF and Army, resumed at 6 am.
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"The retrieval process was extremely difficult because of the treacherous terrain, and the gorge is very deep," Kojin said.
The operation was suspended around 4 pm due to low visibility and will be resumed on Sunday morning, he said.
"One person is still missing, and a search operation will be carried out tomorrow," he added.
The accident happened on the evening of December 8, around 40 km from Hayuliang towards Chaglagam in the district. On the evening of December 10, one survivor managed to climb out of the gorge and reach a nearby Border Roads Task Force (BRTF) labour camp, following which the authorities were alerted.
Six bodies were recovered from the gorge on Friday and handed over to their families on Saturday.
