‘We’ll conduct a nationwide strike if the transporter’s issues aren’t addressed’

Delhi-NCR witnessed a one-day strike of public transports on September 19. The protesters raised questions on the amendments made in the Motor Vehicles Act and stricter norms and raised fines which has affected the auto drivers, cab drivers majorly. To get a better insight about the causes that led to the All India Motor Transport Congress (AIMTC) and United Front of Transport Associations (UFT) calling for the strike, Akshit Pushkarna and Prateek Singh from Urban Update interviewed Naveen Kumar Gupta, Secretary General, AIMTC.

September 19, was the day when public transport on the National Capital’s roads came at halt. Commuters in Delhi and Noida were facing difficulties in travelling to their workplaces, schools, colleges. The protest called up by United Front of Transport Association (UFTA) and All India Motor Transport Congress (AIMTC) created a chaos-like situation on the streets of Delhi and Noida. The strike was called to protest against the Motor Vehicle Amendment Act 2019 that came into effect from September 1.

To begin with what exactly led to the distress caused in the private transportation business, Naveen Gupta highlighted that the business had taken continuous hits in the past3-4 years. “Private transportation sector has been reeling ever since the economic slowdown. The freight demand has depreciated significantly since the implementation of demonetisation and the GST. These have led to a total decline of 50 to 60 per cent freight utilisation and transportation, incurring the transporters a hefty loss. Small operators were not able to sustain this. Add on to this the addition of taxes like the imposition of 44AE, which has increased the income tax imposed on privately run transport businesses, and the new TDS, which restricts the provision of no deduction of tax for the transport business owners, has really broke the backs of small time operators, who already have been suffering from the economic slowdown. The tipping point for us was the exorbitant and unviable penalties imposed through the amended Motor Vehicle Act 2019. Not only imposing an unjustifiable amount of penalties on small time transporters, the provision has also increased the corruption, high handedness and harassment of vehicle owners and drivers and this was the last straw for our union.”

Highlighting the issues that the transportation business has been facing with the new act in place, Gupta said,” Small operators who earn meager pays driving private vehicles cannot afford such heavy challans. Those who are violating the traffic laws should be penalised, we don’t dispute that. But when a transporter is penalised, many provisions get bundled up. Several cases have surfaced which show that one violation leads to wrongful implication without proofs of several other traffic violations and hence, the challans add up to great amount. People who are affected by this don’t drive their vehicles for luxury but are essential service providers. They can’t afford such penalties.

Further highlighting the shortcomings of the MVA 2019, he added, “There is a confusion raised within the business regarding the removal of caps from the third party insurances, which was previously set at The Bill removes the cap on liability for third-party insurance. The 2016 Bill had capped the maximum liability at Rs 10 lakh in case of death and Rs 5 lakh in case of grievous injury.  Along with this, basic amenities like adding parking spaces in highways or cities for the facilitation of transporters hasn’t been allotted and wrongful parking then attracts hefty fines.”

“Better methods could be employed to introduce behavioral changes in the defaulters. Misuse of authority must stop.

Since the introduction of this amended act, it has been misused by the authorities. Our major issue with the implementation of the act is how it has changed the attitude towards correction of traffic violation. Rather than correcting, the intent is of punishing,” the Secretary General said. 

When asked whether the strike had its desired effects, Gupta said,“It did have an effect. We did not want to put the common man in discomfort but the attention of the government could not have been captured without this. There was representation to the Central and State government, we took up the issue several times but nothing could come out of it. We needed to convey to the government that things on the ground are not smooth.”

He noted that the issues of the small time operators were continuously taken up with the government in the past. “Even after committing us certain changes, government couldn’t deliver on their promises. Certain issues like taxation were taken up to the government by our union in July, 2018. The government promised to look into these additional taxes and resolve the issue. A standing committee was formed and it was principally agreed that the taxation issue would be resolved in the final budget. That never really materialised.”

Regarding the reported instances of outbreak of violence in the one-day strike, Gupta said, “We condemn the acts of violence that happened during the strike. It was always our intention to peacefully protest, without being aggressive with the common public.”

When asked about what’s the next course of action for the union, Gupta said, “Next step is the nationwide strike.” He presented the idea that the revocation of the newly set norms is feasible as it has been done by the incumbent government in other instances as well. “We believe that 44E and TDS won’t be revoked as it is a part of the act. But, I present the argument of the implementation of surcharge with the 2019 bill. The surcharge was revoked after the implementation of the act after it was protested against, so why can’t 44E or TDS be revoked in a similar fashion,” Gupta added.