Jaipur: The transporters in Rajasthan have reduced their fare by 20% for plying goods as no business is coming their way due to lockdown. Moreover, the high fuel prices in the state have made them compete with vehicles from other states where diesel is cheaper due to which the outside state trucks are charging less for transportation.
Jaipur Transport Operators Association president Anil Arora said, “Since the pandemic hit, we have been facing huge losses and it has reached to such an extent that now we are forced to reduce transportation cost so that we get at least some business. For example, if previously we were charging Rs 20,000 from Jaipur to Agra, now the fare has been reduced to Rs 17,000. Moreover earlier, we would get products transported on return trips as well but nowadays trucks at times have to return empty as there is no production so raw materials are also not being transported.”
The transporters claimed that the business has been reduced to just 35% and the increasing fuel prices are also putting additional pressure on them. “Each vehicle’s per day cost comes around to Rs 5,000 and with increasing diesel prices, we have no option but to reduce the transportation fare as it is better to have vehicles on the job rather than being parked. In fact, more the number of the heavy vehicles a transporter has, more will be the loss because EMIs for each truck also have to be paid every month irrespective of the fact that there is any business or not. Besides this, we also pay at least six types of taxes like road tax, goods tax, green tax and others which further puts a dent on the profit, especially during this time,” added Arora.
Transporters had also written to the state transport minister asking to be declared as frontline workers since movement of heavy vehicles is still allowed with no restrictions despite lockdown in the state. They said most of them were yet to be vaccinated and requested the government to facilitate the same for them as they were at risk of exposure to the virus because of the nature of their work.