Jajpur: An industry body of Kalinga Nagar has written to Odisha Chief Minister Mohan Charan Majhi, urging him to direct the Jajpur district administration to conduct an inquiry into alleged monopoly of local truckers in the price fixation for transportation of goods.
Kalinga Nagar Industries Association president PL Kandoi alleged that truckers’ associations in the industrial complex dictate terms in the fixation of prices for transportation of goods.
Kandoi, in the letter Wednesday, urged the chief minister to direct the district authorities and police to take “appropriate measures” after conducting a “comprehensive inquiry into the practice of high-handedness and monopoly by the local truckers’ associations in the Kalinga Nagar industrial complex”.
He also accused the local truckers’ of insisting that commercial vehicles should only be engaged through them and not through any other third party for the transportation of goods from the Kalinga Nagar industrial complex.
“They also insist on charging an extra 50 per cent of the market rate for freight for the trucks engaged by them in the industries,” the letter said, adding that they are “not allowing regular transporters who have been working at fair market rates”.
“We would welcome trucks to be engaged locally for the transportation of goods in industries, but that is only possible at prevailing market rates, not at inflated prices,” Kandoi said in his letter.
The industry body sought urgent intervention from the chief minister to provide necessary support to the industries in Kalinga Nagar and take appropriate action against such illegal associations for the greater interest of the industries.
PTI
