Mangaluru : Alleging harassment by government officials and transport agents, the Karavali Karnataka Lorry Malakara Sangha on Friday threatened to launch an indefinite State-wide stir if their grievances are not redressed.
Sangha member Varun Chouta told presspersons here that the freight rates, fixed at Rs. 950 a tonne, vary depending on demand and supply. The revenue realised by owners was insufficient to make a decent living. Moreover, commission agents play mischief in fixing the freight rates and cheat the owners, he alleged. The agents, Mr. Chouta said, would hire all-India permit lorries, which would have come to the State to deliver consignments, to ferry goods within the State. While this was a cheap option for consigners and agents, lorry owners with State permits were the losers. The government should ban the practice, he said.
Because of the mischief played in fixing tariffs, lorry owners were forced to indulge in overloading the vehicle thereby becoming soft targets of government agencies. “If the freight rates were adequate, lorry owners would not overload the vehicle to make good the shortfall,” he said and urged the authorities to act upon the issue.
The association has also problems with the New Mangaluru Port Trust. Across the country, round-the-clock loading and unloading takes place at major ports. However, in Mangaluru, this activity comes to a halt by 7 p.m. and lorry owners suffer losses as their lorries were made to wait for hours together to load or unload the goods, he said.
At the same time, a few agents get the lorries weighed outside the NMPT, but obtain bill from the port for lesser weight. It was also affecting local lorry owners, he said. Association secretary Sachin Kulai said that many carrying and forwarding agents do not own lorries, but still do the business. “The government should make it compulsory that one has to own at least 10 lorry to become the agent,” he said.