Adani group succeeded in negotiations with the truck unions
Indian top business house Adani Group has succeeded in making thousands of truck operators engaged in the transportation of cement in Daralaghat of district Solan and Barmana of district Bilaspur, agreed operate on decreased freight from the existing. Chief Minister Sukhwinder Singh Sukhu and Adani Group have claimed that the dispute has been resolved in the talks held with the government in the capital today. However, no official statement was issued by the operators in this regard till evening. It was claimed that the operators have agreed to these new rates. In a release issued by company spokesperson Anshuman Gunjan on behalf of the Adani group, it has been said that the freight rates for single axle trucks for ACC Cement factory in Barmana and Ambujaja Cement factory in Daralaghat have been fixed at Rs 10.30 per ton per kilometer. Earlier, this freight was available at 11. 41 per km in Barmana. While in Ambuja it was Rs 10.58 per km. Now the truck operators in Barmana would be paid Rs 1.11 per km less freight and operators of Daralghat would have to bear the loss of 28 paise per km. On the other hand, freight charges for multi axle trucks have been fixed at Rs 9.30 paise per km in both the factories (Dadla and Barmana). In the release issued by Adani, it has not been disclosed how much freight was fixed earlier for multi axle trucks. According to the operators, there has been a considerable reduction in the freight charges in Barmana.
Talking to the media after the talks, Chief Minister Sukhu claimed that the company management has agreed to the new rates of freight due to the government’s mediation and continuous negotiations. The factory management has given its consent to resume cement production from tomorrow itself and truck operators have also agreed to transport at these rates. The Chief Minister said that Principal Secretary Industries and other officers would decide a formula for matters related to the annual increase in freight rates. Apart from this, instructions have been given to the Deputy Commissioners of Solan and Bilaspur districts to solve other problems of truck operators and they will ensure their solution with the management of the company.
He said that this dispute came to the fore only after 5 days of the state government assuming power and the cement factory management announced to stop the production. Truck operators went on strike on 16 December. After this, the state government got complete information about this matter. The state government continued to hold talks with truck operators and factory management. After the change of ownership of cement factories at Darlaghat and Barmana, the management was not agreeable to provide freight at the old rates and from here the dispute escalated.
He said that all the parties to this dispute were being harmed. While there was economic loss due to stoppage of cement production in the state, truck operators, truck drivers and conductors, local people involved in repair of vehicles and other works, dhaba operators etc. thousands of families were also going into financial crisis. . In such a situation, the state government made continuous efforts to solve this matter from a human point of view. Sukhu said that the state government has a clear belief that along with truck operators, the interests of the families of the employees working there and those indirectly employed around the factory should be protected. Also, the state government was not in favor of causing loss to the factory management. The meeting was attended by Chief Parliamentary Secretary Sanjay Awasthi, Principal Media Advisor to the Chief Minister Naresh Chauhan, Bilaspur Truck Operators Union President Rakesh Thakur and other representatives and Solan District Truck Operators Union President Jaidev Kaundal and other representatives. Manoj Jindal and Sanjay Vashisht attended the meeting on behalf of Adani Group.
