Rush-hour traffic was disrupted in several parts of the city on Tuesday morning as a section of truck drivers set up blockades protesting a move by the Union government to act tough on erring truck and tanker drivers who flee an accident site.
The blockades began at the intersection of Circular Garden Reach Road and Dumayun Avenue around 9am. The protests were later staged in several pockets of the
city’s port area, like Ramnagar, Hyde Road and Asbestos More.
Police were forced to divert traffic from Hastings and Chowringhee through the Kidderpore-Diamond Harbour Road crossing.
“Vehicles from Garden Reach were diverted through Brace Bridge. The morning traffic slowed down because of the diversions,” said a senior police officer.
“The blockades were later withdrawn. We are not sure if the drivers will resort to similar blockades on Wednesday,” the officer said.
The movement of vehicles to the city from the northern fringes was also hit for some time in the morning with drivers of small goods vehicles staging protests on Jessore Road near Bamangachhi.
The police said the protesters were later removed
but traffic took a hit on the busy corridor.
Truck drivers and owners were protesting a Union government provision in the new Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita Act 2023.
The provision under Section 106 (2) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita states that whoever causes death by rash and negligent driving, not amounting to culpable homicide, and escapes without reporting it to a police officer or a magistrate soon after the incident, shall be punished with imprisonment of either description of a term, which may extend to 10 years, and shall also be liable to be fined.
“The fine can go up to Rs 7 lakh,” said Sajal Ghosh, secretary of the Federation of
West Bengal Truck Operators Association.
The truckers on Tuesday night called off the strike after talks with the Union home ministry.
According to the Bengal’s transport department figures, there are 7.26 lakh truck owners across the state, including tanker owners. Many of them joined the protests.
A section of oil tanker
drivers didn’t move from the refilling centres in parts of Haldia, Durgapur and
Mourigram, petroleum dealers said.
In Nadia’s Kalyani, nearly 300 gas tankers carrying LPG did not move out as a part of the protest, a section of LPG dealers said.