Truckers coming back to work, normalcy soon

New Delhi: Truck drivers, who went on strike to protest against the new stringent law on hit-and-run cases, have started coming back to work and normalcy will return in a day or two, truckers' body All India Motor Transport Congress (AIMTC) said on Wednesday.

AIMTC on Tuesday appealed to protesting truck drivers to end their strike after the government assurance that the decision to invoke stringent jail and fine provisions for hit-and-run cases under the Bharatiya Nyay Sanhita (BNS) will be taken after consultation with the truckers' body.

Representatives of AIMTC met Union Home Secretary Ajay Bhalla on Tuesday to raise the issue of stringent provisions for hit-and-run cases. "We had not given any strike call...striking drivers are coming back to work and normal operations would be restored in one or two days," AIMTC general secretary N K Gupta said. Gupta said the strike by truck drivers in some places was a spontaneous reaction to the new laws and "the drivers need not worry now and should join the work and contribute to the growth of the economy".

Some truck, bus and tanker operators had begun a three-day strike on Monday in several states to protest against the “stringent punishments” provisions.

Under the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, set to replace the Indian Penal Code, drivers who cause serious road accidents due to negligent driving and run away without informing authorities face up to 10 years in prison or a fine of Rs 7 lakh.

The punishment in such cases was two years in the British-era Indian Penal Code (IPC). On Tuesday, long queues of motorists were witnessed at many places in Punjab and a few parts of Haryana over fears that stocks would run dry soon in the wake of truckers' strike. The situation was normalising at petrol pumps on Wednesday in Punjab where fuel supplies were being replenished with fresh stocks.