Hyderabad: Markets in the city are bearing the brunt of the indefinite strike by truckers belonging to the South India Motor Transport Association. Transport of fruits, vegetables and flowers to major markets like Osmangunj, Begum Bazaar and Mahbub Mansion have been hit.

There has been no impact on Rythu Bazaars as the government has deployed RTC buses to transport vegetables from villages.

The Mahbub Mansion market in Malakpet used to receive 800 to 1,000 quintals of tamarind from Maharashtra, AP and some districts of Telangana state. On Thursday, the arrivals fell to 400 quintals. It is also the biggest market for red chillis with average arrivals of 7,500 quintals per day but the quantity went down to 500 quintals. There was no supply of onions on Thursday.

Trader G. Ramesh said no truck entered the market on Thursday. Only a few mini-lorries had arrived. “Stock is piled up with traders and commission agents,” he said.

Mr K.R. Vijay Kumar, estate officer of Mehdipatnam Rythu Bazaar, said the strike did not have any impact so far. The impact of arrivals at the wholesale vegetable markets will be estimated by marketing officials on Friday.

“The impact on wholesale markets will definitely influence vegetable prices at Rythu Bazaars which depend on wholesale prices. In one or two days, the impact will be seen at Rythu Bazaars,” he said.

The quantity of mangoes and sweet limes arriving at the Gaddiannaram fruit market had also dropped. Traders believe prices may go up in the next two days.

“Banginapalle, Benishan, Rasalu, Totapuri and other varieties arrive from AP and Karnataka. There were fewer arrivals on Thursday. Reports say that truckers from AP have withdrawn their strike after talks with government. We hope there will no impact of the strike from Friday,” they said.

Truckers’ talks with minister inconclusive
Truckers’ talks on Thursday with Telangana Transport minister P. Mahender Reddy, MLA V. Srinivas Goud and other officials remained inconclusive as operators did not agree to more time for taking any decision.

While the Andhra Pradesh government’s talks with AP lorry associations ended the strike, the TS government had also believed in a fruitful resolution of the issue. It had asked the truckers for 30 days’ time to resolve the demands but the lorry associations said they do not agree.

Speaking to media, Mr. Mahender Reddy said that the government would hold talks on Friday. “We shall take all the demands to the knowledge of Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao. We are ready to solve some problems,” he said.