Industry opposes revival of truck unions in Punjab
LUDHIANA : The industry has strongly opposed the decision of the Punjab government to revive truck unions in the state. On January 7, the Congress government had issued a notification for the revival of truck unions in the state just a day before the model code of conduct was implemented.
Upkar Singh Ahuja, president, Pankaj Sharma, general secretary, JS Bhogal, publicity secretary, Honey Sethi, organising secretary and Rajat Gupta, press secretary, Chamber of Commercial and Industrial Undertaking (CICU) jointly issued a statement that they strongly oppose and criticise the decision of the Punjab government to revive truck unions. It will prove to be detrimental to the growth of the industry, which is already passing through a critical phase, said Ahuja. The representatives further emphasised that this decision will create burden on the industry as transport charges are already high in the state. The government had claimed that this decision was taken to end the mafia of goods transporters, but as a result, the union will arbitrarily impose a high tariff on the movement of goods.
“The government should understand the situation of the industry and form committees to fix genuine rates to ensure that the interests of the trucking community as well as trade and industry, are safeguarded,” said Pankaj Sharma.
Earlier, the Federation of Punjab Small Industries Associations (FOPSIA) said they have decided to oppose political parties which are assuring the reconstitution of truck unions in the state. Recently, the Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) and the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) have also announced to revive truck unions in Punjab if the party is voted to power.
FOPSIA president Badish Jindal
said, “Multinational companies are scared to invest in the state and the local industry is fed up of cartelisation of truck unions.” It was the main reason that even after the formation of the Invest Punjab Policy in 2013, industries showed no interest in investing in the state. Looking at all these factors, the Congress government decided to ban 134 truck unions in the state in 2017. This was a major relief for the trade and industry of the state then, he said.