On 02 January, truckers called off the strike after a meeting with Union Home Secretary Ajay Bhalla. The All India Motor Transport Congress (AIMTC) announced that the nationwide truck drivers’ strike ended following assurance from the government that the new laws under Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS) for ‘Hit and Run’ cases will be implemented only after consultation with the association.
Chairman of AIMTC, Malkit Singh Bal, said, “We met and discussed the provisions under the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, and all issues have been resolved. The new laws have not been implemented yet and will only be implemented after consultation with AIMTC.”
In a statement, Union Home Secretary Ajay Bhalla said, “We had a discussion with All India Motor Transport Congress representatives. Govt wants to say that the new rule has not been implemented yet; we all want to say that before implementing Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita 106/2, we will have a discussion with AIMTC representatives and then only we will take a decision.”
The strike affected several states, including Punjab, Chandigarh, Jammu & Kashmir, Bihar, Gujarat, Himachal Pradesh, Rajasthan, Haryana, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, West Bengal and Chhattisgarh. Around 60-70 per cent of trucks and about one crore truckers were off the road due to the strike.
Notably, the top officials in the Home Ministry said there was confusion among the truckers about Section 106 (2) of the BNS. Under Section 106 (1), the provision of punishment was for 0 to 5 years, under Section 106 (2), the punishment was for 0 to 10 years in ‘Hit and Run’ cases.
The strike was announced against the increase in punishment in the ‘Hit and Run’ cases under BNS. Under the new provision, a jail term of up to 10 years or Rs 7 lakh fine would have been imposed if the driver flees an accident spot or fails to report it to the authorities. Notably, under the Indian Penal Code (IPC), the punishment for the same was 2 years in prison.
The truck union’s decision to go on strike caused chaos in several states as people went on a ‘panic buying’ spree. Several petrol pumps dried out across the country, and long queues were seen outside petrol pumps amid the uncertainty over the strike.