Meghalaya Truckers Meet Chidambaram, Allege Scam at Highways

Shillong, Jun 23 : A truckers'' association today met Union Home Minister P Chidambaram and sought action against "armed men" who were allegedly manning illegal check gates along highways to extort money from coal-laden trucks.

In their brief meeting with the Home Minister at his office in New Delhi, a delegation of the Northeast Truck Owners and Operators Association also demanded a CBI inquiry into the menace and alleged involvement of local politicians with the extortionist elements.

Association President A Shangpru told PTI over phone, "we have demanded dismantling of all the illegal toll gates and weigh bridges along the highways in Meghalaya. We also asked him to institute a CBI inquiry into the incident.

" The Home Minister assured to look into the matter, he said, adding, the truckers'' body also met NHAI officials in this regard. "The NHAI officials said they would write to the chief secretary of Meghalaya to take action against the illegal gates," Shangpru said.

According to the association, armed men were forcing the truckers to pay Rs 3,200 per truck per trip on NH 62. There are more than 29 such illegal toll gates, they said.

"It is a loss of revenue for the state government," the body said, adding, not even 20 per cent of collection goes to the government exchequer. The association believes that there is a scam going on at NH 62 in which the Meghalaya government is losing crores of rupees.

Earlier, Chief Minister Mukul Sangma had directed the district administrations to dismantle all such gates. In fact, some districts imposed prohibitory orders to prevent "unscrupulous elements" from operating such gates.