January 13th, 2009 
Aman End of Strike With the end of eight-day old strike by truckers the ‘harhtaal season of
Impact With this announcement the Indian industry has heaved a sigh of relief. Indian industry is already suffering from the global financial melt down and this strike had hit it badly. In many industries the managements had to halt the production of material. It had also caused the scarcity of essential commodities in many cities and remote areas. It had caused a sharp increase in the prices of fruits and vegetables. At one end the Indian middle class had to suffer because of high prices and at the other hand it had severely affected the farmers who found it difficult to take their products to the market. It had created an air of uncertainty when the economy was undergoing through a critical phase. An Industry body has termed the end of strike as a matter of relief as it was ‘holding up major economic activities, including transportation of essential goods’. Had this strike remained for a long time its impact could have been worst.
Grievances In the initial first three days strikes impact was not seen in the market. But as the strike progressed its impacts started to show. The truckers had some ‘genuine’ demands which had been being ignored by various centre and various state governments. It must be borne in mind that there is a huge difference between the taxes levied by various state governments on the truckers. Transport industry provides jobs to lakhs of people. But in recent years the hike in the crude oil prices, implementation of new taxes by various state governments have minimized the profits of the related people. There are many other problems that truckers face and have been ignored by the governments for years. It won’t be wrong to say that they have been given a ‘step-motherly treatment by various state and centre governments. This shows that most of their demands are legitimate. They were demanding the doing away of present system, one single national level permit and rationalization of taxes levied by various state governments. Centre and the states’ government representatives have agreed to the proposals and had unanimously appealed to the truckers to end their eight-day old strike.
Committee In the meeting it was decided that a 14 member committee will be set up which will be chaired by Road Transport Secretary Brahm Dutt. This committee will submit its report within eight weeks that will be based on truckers’ demands regarding motor vehicle taxes, one single national permit and other related issues. Four members of AIMTC, three Finance Ministers and four transport commissioners from states, one member of the All India Confederation of Goods Vehicles Owners’ Association will be the members of this committee. The convener of the committee will be Union Road Transport Secretary Saroj Kumar Dash. These were the basic details that were disclosed after the meeting.
OSOA Strike Earlier, on January 9, hundreds of petrol pumps had run out of fuel across the country and thousands of households were hit because of a strike called by the Oil Sector Officers Association (OSOA). The production industry was severely hit by this strike and at the other hand in many parts of the country a drop had been noted in the production of electricity. As the strike had entered the third day the centre government had to take a tough stand against the agitating employees. Government had deployed military in many industries to keep the ‘operations running’. After government’s tough stand the OSOA had to end the strike and at the same time government had agreed to address their ‘genuine grievances’.
Posted in 
