Nangal, September 17
Truck operators protested bare-chested alleging Punjab Alkalies and Chemicals Limited (PACL) for not giving them work due to which they were facing a lot of inconvenience.
A large number of truck operators reached the main market in the town and appealed to people to support them so that they could get work and earn a livelihood.
Claiming that they were dependent on goods transported from the PACL for decades, they said the company was trying to remove them from the business for the past one year by inducting their own fleet.
They alleged that the PACL management initially reduced freight charges during lockdown with assurance that it would be rolled back as the situation gets normalised. The company instead of rolling it back, was now denying work to them on one or the other pretext. And those who were working with the company were not getting payment in time, alleged Surjit Singh Dher, one of the protesters.
PACL director Naveen Chopra, however, said the truck operators were using arm-twisting tactics. He said they were demanding 40 per cent more freight charges being charged by those in other towns. — TNS
‘Denied work’, truckers protest against firm
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