Truck Drivers' Strike, Day 2: Panic Ensues In Fuel Stations Across India, Govt Holds Talks To Allay Concerns. Top Points

Protests have arisen in a number of states, including Bihar, Punjab, Maharashtra, MP, HP, and Chhattisgarh, particularly in response to the new BNS's punishment for hit-and-run incidents. 

Crowded petrol pump in Punjab. ( Image Source :PTI )

As the nation-wide truck driver protest against the recently enforced Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS) grows, gasoline stations in many states are seeing lengthy lines. This jump in demand is being driven not by anticipated gasoline price increases, but by growing concerns that the continuing truckers' strike would disrupt the fuel supply system. The fear is that if the demonstrations continue, crucial supplies will be in limited supply. Protests have arisen in a number of states, including Bihar, Punjab, Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh, Himachal Pradesh, and Chhattisgarh, particularly in response to the new BNS's punishment for hit-and-run incidents. 

Drivers who cause a significant road accident due to careless driving and flee without telling police or any official from the administration risk up to 10 years in prison or a Rs 7 lakh fine under the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, which replaces the colonial-era Indian Penal Code.

Top Points

• Truck drivers protesting a clause in the new criminal code on hit-and-run road accidents called off their strike in Maharashtra's Nashik district on Tuesday after local officials promised to look into their requests. Speaking with PTI, Vikas Karkale, one of the agitating transporters, said: "In the meeting, the district collector gave an assurance to us that our views and demands will be conveyed to the Union government. Therefore, we have decided to call off the strike and regular operations have started. However, if the Union government implements this law, we will again go on a strike."
• Protests were held in many states on the second day of a strike by some truckers' associations against harsher penalties in the new law on hit-and-run cases, even as the government began talks with the agitating groups on Tuesday to end the uproar, which threatened to disrupt essential supplies and led to panic fuel purchases in several places.
• Chetan Modi, head of the Petrol Dealers Association in Mumbai, told PTI that the gasoline supply to petrol stations has been disrupted since Monday due to the drivers' strike. "Petrol pumps started getting dry since yesterday. If we won't get the supply, most of the pumps will run out of fuel from today," he said.
• Local transit was disrupted in the city of Vidarbha on Tuesday owing to a 'chakka bottleneck' caused by truck drivers, according to a local functionary of the Shiv Sena (UBT), which is supporting the protest. 
• Members of several truck driver groups met in Nagpur's Samvidhan Chowk to protest. They intended to proceed to the district collectorate later to present their requests to the administration.
• On Tuesday, numerous fuel outlets in Himachal Pradesh were turning away vehicles, claiming that they were out of supply because petrol and diesel were not being carried due to the truckers' strike.
• Most fuel outlets in Dharamshala, Kullu-Manali, Bilaspur, Hamirpur, Chamba, Una, and Shimla were closed, with long lines forming outside those that remained open.
• Chief Minister Sukhwinder Singh Sukhu of Manali, on the other hand, stated the situation was under control but may worsen if the strike persisted. In response to a query, Sukhu stated that the Union government needs to comprehend the truck drivers' concerns.
• Motorists waited in long lines at gas stations throughout Punjab and Haryana on Tuesday, fearing that supplies might run out soon, while truckers stayed off the highways to protest harsher penalties in the new hit-and-run law.
• Private bus operators and several auto-rickshaw unions in Haryana have also joined the protest against the new provision, and some petrol outlets in Ambala have reported a gasoline scarcity. Vehicle owners panic-bought petrol in Chandigarh, the two states' joint capital.
• According to a transporters' group, the strike by truck drivers over a clause in the new criminal legislation on hit-and-run accidents involving cars has hampered the movement of roughly five lakh trucks in Madhya Pradesh.
• Many passengers were spotted stuck at the Inter State Bus Terminus (ISBT) in the state capital Bhopal on Tuesday morning, as drivers did not run inter-city buses.