New Delhi: Countrywide protests by truck drivers against increase in quantum of punishment in hit-and-run cases in the newly-enacted criminal code impacted fuel supplies in some parts on Tuesday. The government reached out to the agitating transporters and after a late evening meeting between Home Secretary Ajay Bhalla and All India Motor Transport Congress (AIMTC) representatives, the strike was called off.
“We had a discussion with All India Motor Transport Congress representatives. The government want to say that the new law has not been implemented yet. We want to say that before implementing Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita 106/2, we will have a discussion with All India Motor Transport Congress representatives,” said Ajay Bhalla after the meeting.
Truck drivers had taken to streets across Jammu & Kashmir, Bihar, Maharashtra, Gujarat, Punjab, Himachal Pradesh, Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh. Some protests also took place in Uttar Pradesh, Haryana, Chhattisgarh and West Bengal. They were demanding that the government withdraws a provision in the newly-passed Bharat Nyay Sanhita which increases the period of imprisonment from two years to ten years in hit-and-run cases.
The J-K fuel station owners’ association said 90 per cent of petrol pumps have gone dry in Jammu and in the next few hours, all stocks will run out as 1,500 tankers carrying fuel to the Union territory and Ladakh were on strike.
The strike will continue and drivers will not return to work unless the new legislations are repealed, the All J&K Petrol Tanker Owners’ Association has said.
Hundreds of vehicles lined up at most of the fuel stations in Kashmir, leading to traffic snarls in some parts of Srinagar and elsewhere in the Valley. Under the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, which is set to replace the colonial-era Indian Penal Code, drivers who cause serious road accidents due to negligent driving and run away without informing police or the administration face up to 10 years in prison or a fine of Rs 7 lakh. Truckers in several states launched a protest against the ”stringent provision” on Monday.
Divisional Commissioner, Kashmir, V K Bidhuri said, ”There is an impact of the nationwide strike here as well. But we have 21 days’ stock of diesel and 24 days’ stock of petrol available at the depots in the Valley. We also have over 20 days’ stock of LPG available.” ”I have held a meeting with the representatives of the oil companies as well. There is no need to panic,” he added.
Meanwhile, a fuel station manager in Srinagar said their stock will last for another day at the most. ”We had enough supplies to last four to five days, but since everyone is filling full tanks and there is a huge rush, the stock will last maximum for a day,” he added.
In Jammu, some fuel station owners have also sought police help to deal with the situation. Rakshit Singh, who works at the petrol pump in Bohri, said, ”There are orders from the administration to ration fuel, and right now, we are only giving petrol worth Rs 1,000 and 10 litres of diesel to cars.” A number of people standing in queues outside the petrol pumps said they have been waiting for nearly an hour, and even more in some cases, for their turn.
”We have been in this long queue for the past one and a half hours… There are over 300 vehicles. Everyone is panic-stricken,” Kapil Sharma said outside the Udhaywala fuel pump.
Healthcare worker Sunita expressed concerns about the prevailing situation. ”I am worried… what will happen in case the strike extends to a longer period,” she said.
Anand Sharma, president of the All J&K Petrol Tanker Owners’ Association and the J&K Fuel Station Owners’ Association, said over 1,500 oil tankers have been on strike since Monday morning.
”The situation is going to get worse if the government fails to roll back the black law imposed on us. Ninety per cent of pumps have gone dry and in the next two hours, all the fuel stations will go dry. The government has bitterly failed to address the issue,” he said.
AIMTC said that if the law is not back then most drivers will quit their jobs. Around 60-70 per cent of the trucks had not been on the roads for the last two days due to the protests. A significant number of the around 1 crore truck drivers in the country were on strike.
Top officials in Home Ministry explained that there is confusion regarding Section 106 (2) of the Bharat Nyaya Sanhita (BNS). Under the BNS, Section 106 (1) provides for a punishment of 0-5 years, while Section 106 (2) provides for a punishment of 0-10 years in ‘hit and run’ cases.
The strike impacted supply of petrol and diesel to auto fuel retail outlets. States such as Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra and Punjab were facing fast depleting stocks with no supplies coming in at present.
The strike’s impact was felt mainly on motorists in urban areas of Telangana and Andhra Pradesh. Queues were seen near petrol pumps in Hyderabad and other towns including Warangal and Vijayawada.
In Secunderabad, the LPG bulk tanker drivers were on strike. Strike had not yet started in Tamil Nadu.
In Maharashtra, people faced inconvenience due to a complete halt of petrol supply in Akola, Chandrapur, Ahmednagar and Manmad districts. “Sixty per cent of petrol pumps are functional in Maharashtra. The supply of petrol and diesel is being done only by the dealer’s tankers. There is a complete shutdown of transporters and tankers which is not in our control. In Mumbai, the supply of petrol was impacted from the Bharat Petroleum Corporation (BPCL) depot in Wadala,” said Uday Lodh, President of the Consortium of Indian Petroleum Dealers (CIPD).
