NL Correspondent
Jammu Tawi, May 25
All the transporters of J&K State and vehicle-operators have resolved to go on complete strike on June 4, 2018. In an emergency meeting of All J&K Transport Welfare Association, held under the chairmanship of T S Wazir here, the members expressed strong resentment over the attitude of State Government for ignoring their demands despite assurance given by the Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti in presence of Chief Secretary during meeting held several months ago and also against the sharp price hike of petrol and diesel. The representatives of all the commercial transport vehicles associations/ unions, including buses, trucks, oil tankers, matadors/ mini-buses, taxies, Sumos, Tempo Travelers and autorickshaws, attended the meeting. They alleged that Central and the State Governments were sucking the blood of the transporters by increasing taxes, insurance and also continuously increasing the prices of petrol and diesel. They said that for the last 10 consecutive days, the prices of petrol and diesel are being increased and the Modi Government has failed to keep control on price hike. Wazir said, “We have approached many times to the State Government for revision of the passenger fare and also submitted a memorandum on other issues and also on cost of operation to the Dy Chief Minister and Transport Commissioner of J&K but nothing has been done till today. Instead of this, so many other problems which are already in the notice of State Govt have remained unresolved. Due to steep hike in the petroleum products many vehicles will come off the road,” he added. Wazir further said that Government was forcing the transporters / operators to come out on the roads to lodge their protest and suspend operation of vehicles. He said in the meeting it was unanimously decided to observe one day token strike across the State and wheels of all type of vehicles will remain jammed on June 4 from Lakhanpur to Kashmir. And if, the demands remained unresolved transporters will go on indefinite strike and the Government will be responsible for the inconvenience to the general public, Wazir maintained.
