Truck owners stop Sesa's ore transport

PTI, PANAJI | 13 October 2014 22:39 IST

The transport of iron ore from Sesa Sterlite plant, which had resumed after a gap of two years last week, was stopped by police today amid concerns over a law and order situation following an objection raised by a group of truckers, a senior official said.

A total of 120 trucks fitted with Global Positioning System ( GPS) were contracted to carry the ore from Sesa Sterlite's mining lease at Codli to its pig iron plant at Amona. 

"The transport was stopped in the morning fearing law and order problem in the area as a group of truckers had objected to the transporting of the ore," Superintendent of Police (South) Shekhar Prabhudesai said, adding that transport can resume only after situation normalises. 

There is a dispute between two groups of truck operators over charges per tonne being offered by the company and the transport was stopped a day after one group of truck operators held a meeting. 

When contacted, a Sesa Sterlite official refused to comment. 

The long ban on the export of iron ore in the coastal state was lifted by the Supreme Court in April this year. 

Sesa Sterlite had resumed transportation of ore, which was purchased by them from the state government through e-auctioning only last Friday.
 

The ore, procured from e-auctioning, has been used as a raw material for producing pig iron by Sesa Sterlite at its plant situated around 30 kms away from the mining lease. 

However, the truckers reeling under the debt have said that stopping of the transport will only add to their woes. 

"The truck owners are already having loans to pay for. When the mining transport began, the truck owner spent Rs 50,000 per vehicle expecting that they will get the business. But now the stoppage has worsened the trouble," said Suvarna Tendulkar, a truck owner. 

She said that stopping of mining has left several thousand people in the lurch and they are waiting for the business to resume. 

Another truck owner said the state government should intervene in the matter and solve the issue. He said that Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar, currently busy in campaigning in Maharashtra, would be petitioned to intervene in the matter. 


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