Soon, Noida to face crisis of milk, veggies, other essential goods

On Day VIII, demonetisation effect was clearly visible in Noida and Ghaziabad. As of now, the common man is facing various issues in getting money to buy his essential needs but now it is expected that the note ban is going to hit supplies of milk, vegetables, fruits, medicines and other essential utilities in Noida. Since the transporters have no money to pay for the daily expenses, the supply of these utilities may get affected with the wheels getting ceased.

Because of shortfall of cash around 4,000 heavy vehicles out of 10,000 in Noida already choked, it is expected in the near future that the rest might also halt their operations soon.

Jitendra Sharma, a Noida transport agency owner said:  “A transporter must have around Rs 15,000 to Rs 20,000 cash to run a vehicle in NCR as the expenses of driver, helper, fuel and the hefty MCD and NGT taxes laid in Delhi needs to be paid to let the vehicle move freely in the region. 

Around 80 per cent of the transport operations run on cash transactions.” He added: “The vehicles coming from other states via Agra also need to pay Yamuna Expressway toll taxes which are also way too costly.” Even truck drivers are struggling for their wages as the transport owners don’t have cash to pay them. Many drivers are stuck in Noida as the transporters don’t have cash to let the vehicles moving.

Gurpreet Singh, a truck driver from Punjab who is stuck in Noida for the past four days said: “I came to Noida with luggage but now I am unable to go back as the transporter is unable to provide money. I don’t have cash to arrange food for me even”.

Noida Transport Sanyukt Morcha’s president Vedpal Chaudhary added: “The sudden cash crunch has made the transporters helpless and forced them to stop operations as they are running out of cash. There is no money flow due to which they are unable to pay the expenses”. 

He further stated: “The unavailability of cash has forced the transport vehicles off the roads that might soon lead to crisis of milk and vegetables.” The transporters are now finding rationality in not running their vehicles. But considering all this, instead of protesting against the government’s decision, they are vigorously welcoming this move.