PONDA
Intensifying their agitating after accusing the State government of failing to resolve their issue of ore transportation rate, the All Goa Truck Owners Association (AGTOA) on Sunday resolved to keep their trucks off road from Monday.
Appealing to other associations to support them, the AGTOA members said transportation business will come to standstill from Friday, after other associations follow them.
The AGTOA led by Nilkanth Gawas convened a meeting at Dharbandora on Sunday to discuss the issue and attacked the BJP government for sidelining them. Ramakant Gaonkar, Bholo Gaonkar, Balaji Gawas and other members were present on the occasion.
“Though we had appealed to the State government to fix our transportation rates for fresh mining, it has failed to do so. We will keep our trucks off the roads till the government fixes the rate for fresh mine ore. We will appeal to other associations to support us and to keep the trucks off road from Friday,” said Gawas.
In a fresh demand, the AGTOA has said that government should consider Rs 17.63 per tonne per kilometre for transportation of the new ore.
It may be recalled that a few days ago, Gawas had accused the government of failing to keep a check on mining business in Goa, alleging that mining companies were not obeying Supreme Court directives.
“The government should keep a check on whether mining companies are transporting e-auctioned ore or freshly extracted of ore. It should also tell us the amount that the government exchequer has received from the new lease,” demanded Gawas.
Gawas also alleged that except for Sakhali MLA Pramod Sawant, MLAs from mining belt were trying to create a rift among truckers. “As a result, many associations have been formed,” he said.
Later speaking to The Goan, Gawas said they would submit their memorandum to Chief Minister Laxmikant Parsekar and to all departments concerned regarding fixation of rate for the transportation of newly extracted ore.
“Several meetings will be convened to persuade other truckers and from Friday, all the trucks will stop transporting ore,” said Gawas.
