Barak Valley Truckers victim of discrimination in Meghalaya; Multiple associations call strike, demand wage correction 

Several truck owners’ associations called for a protest in Cachar’s Katigora area. Hundreds of trucks were parked as a mark of protest and the mass demonstration continued till 4:30 pm. They alleged that the Barak Valley truckers are victims of discrimination in Meghalaya. They accused that the cement companies in Meghalaya load trucks based on racial profiling. 

On behalf of the Truck Owners’ Association, Jabir Hussain Laskar said that the cement companies in Meghalaya prefer trucks from other states to the ones owned by people in Barak Valley. “They load and unload the local trucks first and keep us waiting for hours. They pay them more while we are paid between Rs 500 and Rs 710 per ton which is sheer discrimination. We are unable to pay our instalment due to abysmal earnings,” said Jabir Hussain.

Eight truck owners’ associations from various parts of Barak Valley demonstrated today. They have two demands, “The cement factories in Meghalaya will have to give the trucks from Barak Valley while loading cement to be shipped to Cachar, Karimganj and Hailakandi. Our second demand is that we must be paid Rs 15 per kilometre against the current tariff which amounts to Rs 7 or Rs 8 per kilometre,” asserted Jabir Hussain.

The demonstrating truck owners’ association warned that if the cement factories in Meghalaya don’t sit with them for a discussion within 72 hours, they will call for a larger strike that would disrupt the supply of Cement in Barak Valley. Not only that but the truck owners also warned that they will force the cement shops in all three districts of Barak Valley to pull their shutter down.

This outburst of emotions comes after their memorandums to various organisations and ministers remained ignored. “We even wrote to the chief minister of Meghalaya. This racial profiling has been going on for a long. The moment they see a truck from Barak Valley, they start discriminating in their treatment. This needs to come to an end,” the representatives of the association said.