Truckers refuse to transport Foodgrains to J&K, HP

Lily

B.R
Staff member
Gurdaspur February 6:

The Gurdaspur Food Corporation of India (FCI) authorities are in a quandary as road transport contractors (RTCs) have refused to participate in the tendering process meant for transportation of foodgrains to J&K and Himachal Pradesh.

Food stocks from the FCI depots in Gurdaspur district are mainly supplied to J&K and Himachal Pradesh and since both these states are not that well connected by railways, the FCI dispatches foodgrains through trucks which are operated by the RTCs. However, in the past few weeks, the FCI has repeatedly floated tenders but these are being boycotted by the RTCs owing to “stringent conditions imposed by the corporation in the tenders.”

FCI officials fear that if RTCs do not participate in the tendering process, there may be a choking of stocks at various depots in the district with Batala being the most affected where foodgrains worth crores of rupees are awaiting transportation following the non-availability of RTCs. However, the RTCs have a different story to tell. Ashok Mahajan and Vinod Kumar, noted RTCs of the area said, “The FCI has doubled the security and also enhanced penalty and the number of trucks to be supplied in a day has also been increased, following which we have boycotted the tenders.

We want the earlier system to be followed where the security was less and the penal clause imposed per truck was just Rs 100 instead of Rs 300 as is being demanded by the FCI now.” During the last calendar year, thousands of tonnes of wheat and rice was transported through road to J&K and HP following which the FCI saved a whopping Rs 6 crore. Had the same stocks been sent through railways, the FCI would have incurred losses due to Rail Transit Loss (RTL) which, owing to pilferage, is pegged at 0.5 per cent.

Surinder Mahajan, another RTC, said, “We want the FCI to follow the same conditions it had set in tenders meant for last year and if it reduces the penalty and security, which this year has been almost doubled, we are ready to submit tenders.” Nahar Singh, Gurdaspur FCI Area Manager, refused to comment on the issue which is acquiring all the contours of a major controversy.

 
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