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Kerala to take steps for dealing with lorry stir

KOLLAM: Kerala Chief Minister V.S. Achuthanandan called a high-level meeting at the Government Guesthouse here in the afternoon to discuss ways to deal with the lorry strike which began on Friday.

The meeting was attended by Home Minister Kodiyeri Balakrishnan, Food and Civil Supplies Minister C. Divakaran, Labour Minister P.K. Gurudasan, Ports Minister M. Vijayakumar, Transport Minister Mathew T. Thomas, Chief Secretary P.J. Thomas, Home Secretary K.J. Mathew, DGP Raman Srivastava, AGDP Jacob Punnose and top officers from various departments.

After the meeting, which lasted more than an hour, Mr. Achuthanandan told mediapersons that the government would take all steps to ensure that the lorry strike did not lead to shortage of essential commodities.

He alleged that the strike was a conspiracy to discredit the commendable performance registered by the Civil Supplies and Cooperative departments in keeping the prices of essential commodities in the State under control. “The strike is aimed at challenging the government and burdening the people with a price rise. Hence, the government is compelled to take some very strong measures to deal with the lorry strike. The lorry owners alone will be responsible for that,” Mr. Achuthanandan said. Asked to elaborate on the nature of measures, the Chief Minister said: “wait and see.” He said that this was the fourth time in the recent past that the lorry owners were trying to hold the State to ransom in the name of a strike. The government after talks with the organisations of lorry employees had reduced the owners’ contribution to the Kerala Motor Transport Workers Welfare Fund Board from Rs.350 to Rs.200.

Moreover, it was agreed to make additional arrangements for payment of road tax. “In spite of all this, they have resorted to a strike. The strike cannot in anyway be justified,” Mr. Achuthanandan said.

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