• Authorities meet transporter bodies?

Senior officials from the transport industry are said to have met the representatives of the road freight (transport) in the wake of the difficulties faced by them after the nationwide lockdown to fight Covid-19 was announced on the evening of March 22, 2020. The meeting, claimed to have been held against the demand by transport bodies like AIMTC and AITWA to extend insurance worth Rs. 20-25 lakh to drivers affected by Covid-19, and to aid stranded truckers as well as provide the CV drivers with facilities to screen themselves, is said to have had a positive outcome. Stating that only 10 to 15 per cent of the eight-million million truck fleet was operational at the moment, an AITWA member said that the safety of the CVs and goods laden on them was turning out to be a big challenge as drivers in the absence of food or lodging abandoned them by the roadside and went to their villages.