Piyush Goyal ‘cheated’ 93 lakh truckers: AIMTC

Removing India’s 471 toll barriers on various national highways and introducing third-party insurance for India’s estimated 93 lakh truckers were the two main demands of the industry when the transporters went on a strike in July this year, their second since 2015.

“Union Minister Piyush Goyal was directly involved in the negotiations. He had personally assured us that he would look into our demands and promised that third-party insurance would be provided to truckers, after which we ended our strike,” reveal office-bearers from the All India Motor Transport Congress (AIMTC), the apex body representing the interests of the trucker fraternity.

“It has been four months now and we are still to hear from the government. None of our demands have been met. We feel cheated,” they say.

Toll barriers are a major concern of India’s truckers. A report by the Indian Institute of Management (IIM-Kolkata) released by Union Minister for Road Transport & Highways, Shipping and Water Resources, River Development & Ganga Rejuvenation Nitin Gadkari blamed the toll plazas for afflicting losses to the tune of ₹1,47,000 crores annually on account of wastage of fuel and delays due to stoppages at toll plazas.

“The brunt of the losses is borne by small-time transporters, a majority group among transport-owners. They own 1-5 trucks and form the lifeline of our economy,” they say

The truckers’ body had shot off a letter to the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) on August 29, wherein it had highlighted the financial losses being caused due to toll barriers.

“The process of collecting toll is not transparent and is mired in corruption and malpractices by the toll collectors and concessionaires,” the AIMTC had said at the time, as it noted an annual net loss of at least ₹1.47 lakh crore on account of fuel wastage caused by long queues at toll plazas.

The AIMTC had also been severely critical of the electronic toll collection system, saying that the technology “has squarely failed as on the ground with vehicles still queuing up.”

In fact, the electronic toll collection technology has also been found to have its flaws, as per enquiries being made by the NHAI based on written complaints from transporters.

FASTag, a prepaid card which has done away with the use of cash at toll plazas and is operational in 407 toll plazas across India, could be easily fudged by toll collectors.

For instance, documents show that a same truck was charged thrice on the single day at the Niyamatpur-Ekrotiya Toll Plaza on March 11 this year, even as it had passed the toll plaza just once. The operator of the truck has appealed to the National Highways Authority of India to get the grievances redressed.

Further, flaws in the weight-taking technology at the toll plazas is another concern, with hundreds of complaints received by the NHAI indicating towards collusion between toll operators and local officials to swindle money out of the transporters.

One such complaint, currently under investigation by the NHAI, was of Ashok Gupta, an Ahmedabad-based small-time business owner.

Owning a truck that weighs 25 tonnes once full, Gupta’s truck was stopped at Rayla toll plaza in Rajasthan Bhilwara’s district and accused of flouting norms in operating a loory with a combined capacity of 100 tonnes.

“They asked me to go to the DTO of nearby Shahpura, who then asked me to pay a challan of ₹ 1.05 lakh. Apparently, the instructions for my truck to be stopped were sent straight to the toll operator from the DTO,” AIMTC tells NH.

Arguing its case, the AIMTC also highlighted to the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) about monetary gains when the government had removed toll barriers for 24 days during November 2016.

“This fact which we have been professing for last many years was endorsed by the news report of November 2016 from Mumbai quoting experts who studied vehicle movement at Bandra Worli Sea Link and Mumbai-Pune Expressway, wherein there is saving of ₹ 3 crore worth of fuel in 10 day waiver from November 09, 2016 to November 18, 2016,” the letter stated.

Despite the concerns of the country’s truck owners, the government seems to be going ahead in building more toll booths. In August this year, at least nine toll plazas were given out by the government to Australian fund Macquarie, at a total cost of approximately ₹ 10,000 crore.

The truck owners are also not particular happy about the new technologies being trialled by the government, including the use of prepaid e-wallets and RFID-based FASTag, both of which involve stopping at toll plazas.

“This will be an election issue for us. We pinned our hopes on this government, but they have failed us in every respect,” says AIMTC.