More associations lend support to lorry strike

The lorry owners’ strike entered its 12th day on Sunday. Now, several other associations are planning to join the ongoing protests.

GR Shanmugappa, president of the Federation of Karnataka Lorry Owners and Agents Association (FKLOAA), said, “A number of concrete material suppliers are set to join the strike this week. Bricks, mud, jelly, and ready-mix concrete supply will be hit once they all join the strike,” he said.

With construction works already being hit in the state because of the unavailability of sand, building works will only take a further downfall if the trend continues. K Ilango of Ready Mix Concrete Equipment Association said the association will join the strike from Tuesday.

“Without sand, hardly any construction work can be done. We have over 1,000 transit mixture vehicles, but only about 200 of these are working right now. Considering that most of our vehicles have not been working for the last one week, it only made sense to join the strike considering that we support it morally,” he said.

He added that while this would not affect dedicated site projects as vehicles had been allotted to them already, construction activities that run out of materials will be affected as the market supply of ready made concrete will stop.

The Karnataka Stone Crusher’s and Quarry Owner’s Association has also planned to join the strike from Tuesday, after a meeting with its association members. Justifying the plan, president of the association, BS Lakshmipathy said, “When the supply of sand has been hit, it affects the use of jelly and other construction materials too. Although the promise to regularise operations was made three years ago, nothing has been done so far.”

He added that the quarry owners are suffering a loss of about Rs45 crore because of the strike. “We want the government and the lorry owners to come to a mutual understanding and end the strike as soon as possible because the entire construction industry is being hit.”