Fish transport vehicle strike on Dec 11–12

Demanding a designated space for the disposal of waste water collected in tanks of fish transporting vehicles, owners and drivers of fish transporting lorries will stage a 24-hour strike from December 11 midnight to December 12 midnight.

The strike is organised under the aegis of Motor Transport and Engineering Workers’ Union.

Speaking to reporters, Union General Secretary Vasanth Achary said that fish transporting vehicles in Dakshina Kannada, Udupi and Uttara Kannada districts will take part in the strike.

“In the past, spilling of waste water while on the road caused inconvenience to motorists and pedestrians. After the police directed the vehicle owners to fit the lorries with waste water collection tanks, all the lorries are fitted with 400-ml capacity tanks. Unfortunately, when the tank starts overflowing during long distance travel, there is no facility to scientifically dispose the waste water collected in the tanks of the lorries,” said Achary.

“There are also several instances of citizens assaulting lorry drivers for allegedly discharging the waste water on the road. In Kerala, the lorry drivers are allowed to dispose the waste water collected in the markets situated by the national highway at Thalassery, Neeleshwara and Payyanur. Such facility should be provided to the lorry drivers of Karnataka,” he demanded.

As a part of the strike, lorry owners will take out a procession from the Mini Vidhana Soudha in Mangaluru to the deputy commissioner’s office at 11 am on December 12. A memorandum will be submitted to the state government to identify a designated space for disposal of waste water collected in the lorry tanks, he added.

The previous deputy commissioners A B Ibrahim and Sasikanth Senthil had promised to identify a space for the disposal of water beside the national highway. However, no progress had been made in this regard so far, Achary complained.