UP: Truck, Bus, Tankers Drivers to go on Indefinite Strike From January 9

Lucknow: Truck drivers across Uttar Pradesh will go on an indefinite strike starting from January 9, announced the UP Truck Operator Association on Saturday. The strike is to protest against the stringent laws for hit-and-run cases under the new Bharatiya Nyay Sanhita (BNS).

Dhirendra Tiwari, secretary of the union, speaking to NewsClick, said, "The Government of India has made its stand clear regarding the law that no changes will be made in this law. The definition of hit-and-run given by the government in the judicial code is contained in sub-section (2) of section 166 of the Act."

According to Tiwari, if this law is implemented, then all types of drivers, including common people, whether two-wheeler or four-wheeler driver or taxi, tempo, truck, trailer or tanker, will all be eligible for the same punishment under hit-and-run cases. 

He said that if any kind of incident happens on the road, it is an accident and not a murder. In this new law, a provision has been made to treat the accident as murder and take action. This is an injustice to both transport and private vehicle drivers. Since this law is non-bailable, it will be misused. Police on the road will harass drivers by implicating them in fake cases.

The driver union leaders argued that if any accident occurs, the police will first arrest the person concerned and send them to jail, and if there is even the slightest bias in the investigation, their whole family will be devastated. A driver doing a job worth Rs 10,000 will have to spend ten years behind bars or pay a fine of Rs 7 lakh. This will affect their entire family.

The union leader said that all truck drivers in the state will support the strike and keep their vehicles off-road. Apart from truck unions, bus unions, taxi travel unions, tankers associations and transport unions will join the strike. 

"We already informed all the union leaders of truck, bus, taxi and tankers in the state, and we will be going on a strike. All heavy vehicles will go off-road from January 9," he added.

Another transport leader told NewsClick, "There is no provision in the new law if an accident occurs due to road defects, fog or darkness. Sometimes accidents also happen due to animals coming all of a sudden on the road or technical reasons. In such a case, first, the crowd will beat the driver to death, or this law of the government will take away their remaining life."

Meanwhile, the union leader threatened to stop all services, including the supply of fuel and milk, if the central government doesn't repeal the law.

Truck drivers, taxi and bus operators started a nationwide strike to oppose the provision of a Rs 7 lakh penalty and 10-year jail term for hit-and-run cases under the newly passed Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita. The All-India Motor Transport Congress said that these provisions, which have yet to come into force, can lead to undue harassment and must be recalled with immediate effect.

The strike had cut the supply of vegetables to the cities and caused a fuel shortage that led to panic purchases.

However, on January 2, following a meeting with Union Home Secretary Ajay Bhalla, the All India Motor Transport Association (AIMTC) resolved to call off the countrywide truck drivers' protests over the new hit-and-run law. The government assured the members of the transport body that the new laws have not been implemented yet and will only be implemented after consultation with AIMTC.