PONDA | Jan 07, 2016: The deadlock over the transportation rates of e-auctioned ore ended after a series of meetings with Vedanta and the government on Wednesday.
The 34th day of the trucker’s agitation proved fruitful as Vedanta agreed to all conditions and promised to fulfill them. The All Goa Truck Owners’ Association (AGTOA) will decide when to start ore transportation at a general body meeting on January 7.
A meeting between AGTOA and Vedanta was held at the Codli mines in Dharbandora on Wednesday. Those present included Vedanta manager Joseph Coelho and officials Sitaram Valvalkar and Sanjay Kumar, AGTOA president Nilkant Gawas, and executive member and Dharbandora Sarpanch Balaji Gawas.
According to Gawas, Vedanta had agreed to set the ore transportation rate at Rs 11.10 per tonne per kilometre, and withdraw the cases against Vinayak Gawas and nine other truck owners.
Additionally, the truck owners who were engaged by Vedanta in 2012 will be given only two trips per day irrespective of the number of trucks owned by them. The truck owners from outside the mining belt who engaged during the strike period will be removed and only those from the mining belt route will be allowed to do transportation work. A list of those who are to be removed shall also be provided to AGTOA.
Lastly, the ore loaded for transportation, regardless of whether it is more or less, shall be considered only as 10 or 10.30 tonne for billing, and the account of trips made by the truckers will be provided to them every month.
Gawas also praised the agitating truck owners for not giving up their fight despite pressure from the police and government. He congratulated the truckers who had been arrested and stated that the AGTOA members would always support them.
He said tension prevailed in the mining belt on Tuesday as Vedanta did not honour its promise to fulfill the truckers’ conditions.
(Source: http://www.heraldgoa.in/)