Mangaluru: Over 40 lorry drivers and a few DYFI and CITU activists have been detained by the police for protesting against the bullet gas tanker owners in front of the HPCL office in Surathkal.
The lorry drivers joined by DYFI have been on strike since December 27 demanding compensation to the family of the driver who died while on duty recently.
It may be recalled that a bullet gas tanker driver named Saravanan and conductor Tangaraju were assaulted allegedly by sons of influential politicians. Saravanan, who was thrown down from an overbridge, died in the hospital few days later while Tangaraju, who is in coma, has been discharged from the hospital as his family is unable to bear the medical expenses. It is said that there is hardly any hope of Tanagaraju’s recovery.
The tanker drivers placed a demand of Rs 10 compensation to Saravanan’s family and another Rs 5 lakh to Tangaraju’s family. However, the tanker owners are reportedly not ready to pay heeds to the demand.
Since the drivers are on strike, gas supply has completely been stopped across South India.
As many as 3,000 lorries have been parked in Mangaluru while another 1,000 are parked in other parts of South India.
DYFI Convener Muneer Katipalla said that as many as 100 tanker owners from Tamil Nadu and other parts who arrived in Mangaluru with two big buses, about 6 tempo travelers and 6 Toyota Innova, have brought some replacement drivers and have threatened a few other drivers on strike to get back to work. He said that the tanker owners have been functioning violating several rules with great ease with the support of ACP Gaonkar.
Today, the protestors were detained at around 10.30 am. They have been kept in Panambur station. Muneer alleged that until evening, not even a single cop of ASI merit or above turned up at the station as they would be made to answer the grounds on which the protestors were detained adding the latter do not have any reason. He alleged that detentions were made only on the orders of ACP Gaonkar.
Speaking further, Muneer said that Gaonkar has been bribed more than the money demanded to compensate the victim’s family. According to him, the tanker owners are not willing to compensate foreseeing possibilities of frequent demands in the future by the drivers.
