Telangana Food Prices Shoot Up With Truckers Strike

As the truckers' strike in Telangana entered the sixth day today with thousands of lorries going off the road disrupting the day-to-day movement of essential commodities, the prices of food grains and vegetables have been skyrocketing, causing huge hardships to the poor.

Taking advantage of the truckers' strike, unscrupulous food grain and vegetable merchants have hiked the prices putting the common man to a lot of suffering. The high costs of essential food grains and vegetables, besides their shortage due to the strike, is making the lives of the people miserable.

The truckers in the state began an indefinite strike on March 30 demanding a reduction in the third-party insurance premium and a single permit system for AP and Telangana among other things.

The insurance premium was reportedly increased from Rs 24,000 to Rs 38,000, the AP government is apparently against the single permit system between the two Telugu states.

With the talks between the truckers and the IRDAI (Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority of India) failing to result in any solution, the Telangana government initiated all possible steps to ensure that the movement of essential commodities was not affected. For this the government also pressed into service the RTC buses to transport essential goods, but it has not completely neutralized the impact of the truck pull-out.

The drivers and cleaners are also agitating against the authorities enforcing some new transport regulations including fixing minimum educational qualifications for them. Many drivers who have put in 20 to 30 years' service are wondering how the new regulations can be made applicable to them at this late stage. They are agitated that their livelihoods are under threat due to these regulations, and are insisting that they be withdrawn immediately.