Truckers call off strike in Goa; Sesa to pay higher tonnage

The 36-day-long strike by truckers carrying ore from Sesa Iron Ore company's lease was withdrawn on Thursday paving the way for faster iron ore exports from Goa. The transportation of ore from Sesa's Codli site to South Goa was going on, while truckers had stopped ferrying it through Amona village in north Goa, demanding higher rate per ton.

"Majority of our demands have been passed. Hence, we have decided to withdraw our strike," All Goa Truck Owners Association President Nilkant Gawas told PTI.

He said the company has promised to withdraw cases filed against the agitating truckers, besides empanelling 1,200 trucks to carry the cargo. Sesa will pay Rs 11.10 per ton per kilometre rate for the truckers to carry e-auctioned cargo but the rate for freshly extracted cargo will be decided at the later date, Gawas said.

The company is currently exporting the ore which it had purchased through e-auction process, while it has already freshly excavated half a million metric tons of ore, company's vice president (Communications) Aniruddha Joshi told PTI.

"Our exports from South Goa were already on. Now the exports will be full fledged as issue with the north Goa truckers is also over," he said.

Chief Minister Laxmikant Parsekar had periodically tried to intervene in the matter as the resumption of mining had halted due to logjam between truckers and Sesa. Earlier, the company had feared that they will have to go for no work no pay, if exports doesn't resume.