Truckers' protests: Police provide armed escort to petrol tankers in Nagpur

Police in Maharashtras Nagpur district Tuesday said armed escort is being provided to tankers transporting petrol in view of the ongoing agitation by truck and tanker driversA senior officer said strike force teams of police on Tuesday foiled a bid by truckers to block National Highway No 6 at Tarsa in Mauda tehsil newswire PTI reportedSix special strike force teams have been formed in Nagpur district for quick response said Superintendent of Police Harssh PoddarPolice have registered two separate offences against more than 40 persons for blocking the NagpurUmred Road by setting tyres on fire on Monday and arrested 16 of them an official saidPolice booked nine persons for allegedly blocking the national highway no 6 at Kalmeshwar in Nagpur district a day beforeVarious truckers associations are staging rasta roko protests against stricter punishments in the new law on hitandrun casesMeanwhile truck drivers in Nashik district of Maharashtra on Tuesday afternoon called off their strike after local authorities assured to look into their demandsThe drivers across the country are protesting against a provision in the new penal law on hitandrun road accidents The strike entered second day on Tuesday leading to nondelivery of petroleum products at depots and people rushing to petrol pumps amid the fear of fuel shortage newswire PTI reportedIn Maharashtra the truck drivers have been staging protests at various places including capital Mumbai Nagpur Solapur Dharashiv Navi Mumbai Palghar Nagpur Beed Hingoli Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar Nashik Gadchiroli and WardhaIn Nashik the fuel transporters started the agitation at Panewadi near Manmad on Monday More than 1000 trucks and tankers were parked in Panewadi area as part of the nationwide protestAlso read Maharashtra Latur receives water supply once a week as storage level in Manjara dam plummetsPanewadi village near Manmad town in Nandgaon taluka of the district has fuel depots of various companies including Bharat Petroleum Hindustan Petroleum and Indian Oil Fuel is supplied in many parts of the state from these depots Indian Oil has an Indane LPG bottling plant also at PanewadiAs a result of the strike long queues of people were seen at various fuel stations in Nashik city and parts of the district from Monday evening as reports of the transporters strike and fuel shortage due to it created panic among peopleIn a bid to find a solution District Collector Jalaj Sharma and Superintendent of Police Shahaji Umap held a meeting with the transporters dealers petroleum company officials and other stakeholders at Panewadi on TuesdayFollowing an assurance by the collector the transporters agreed to call off the strike It was decided to provide police protection if needed for the transport of fuel As a result transport of fuel resumed from Panewadi this evening officials saidRepresentatives of dealers and transporters attended the meeting We heard their concerns and assured them to take their grievances and views to the Centre As a result they agreed to resume their operations collector Sharma said after the meetingWe will immediately send information regarding their issues and grievances to the Union government and workshops will be conducted for transporters to explain the new law to them and to clear the misunderstanding in their mind about its provisions I appeal to people also not to panic as regular fuel supply will continue he saidSuperintendent of police Shahaji Umap who was also present for the meeting assured that the police administration will take care that there will be no problems or obstacles for the transport of fuelTalking to PTI Vikas Karkale one of the agitating transporters said In the meeting the district collector gave an assurance to us that our views and demands will be conveyed to the Union government Therefore we have decided to call off the strike and regular operations have started However if the Union government implements this law we will again go on a strikeUnder the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita BNS which replaces the colonial era Indian Penal Code IPC drivers who cause a serious road accident by negligent driving and run away without informing police or any official from the administration can face up to 10 years imprisonment or a fine of Rs 7 lakh The punishment in such cases was 2 years in the Britishera IPC With inputs from agencies