Patiala, Aug 31: After facing the problem of disbanding of 134 truck unions by the Punjab government, the truck operators are now claiming that the state government was not releasing a payment of more than Rs 150 crore (transportation charges).
Disclosing this here today, Happy Sandhu, president of the All Punjab Truck Operator Union, said that five agencies of the government PUNSUP, MARKFED, PUNGRAIN, Punjab Agro and WAREHOUSE were engaged by the government for purchasing and lifting of wheat and paddy during the season. He said that though the season of wheat procurement was also over and four months had already elapsed, no agency has released transportation arrears due to the truck operators.
He said that the amount of Rs 150 crore was huge for the operators as they had paid for fuel and other expenses from their own pockets. He said that a large number of truckers in the state were only dependent on the wheat and paddy seasons to earn a living and holding back the payments were completely destroy the trucking business in Punjab.
He said that during a meeting with the chief principal secretary Suresh Kumar in the mid-August, they were assured that payments would be released within 10 days, but now even another week had passed and they had not received a single penny.
He said he truckers were also facing problems in transport offices after the abolition of the post of DTO posts as the government had not issued guidelines for working due to which transporters, truck operators and others are facing problems of the passing of vehicles, transfer cases, permits and other issues.
Source The Times Of India
