Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) chief Sukhbir Singh Badal Wednesday said all truck unions will be revived and a transporters welfare board with a corpus of ₹ 25 crore created if the SAD-BSP alliances is voted to power in the 2022 assembly elections.

Addressing the media here, he accused the Congress government of having “struck” at the very livelihood of small truckers by abolishing truck unions.

“We will revive truck unions to ensure small truckers get their due. We will also ensure there is no outside interference in the truck unions, including political interference, by laying down guidelines that only a member of the Union can become its president,” he said.

He said simultaneously coordination committees would be established with members from truck unions, trade representatives as well as the government to ensure the interests of truckers as well as the industry are safeguarded.

He also said a transporters welfare board would be established with a corpus of ₹ 25 crore to ensure the extension of humanitarian help to members in case of extraordinary circumstances like the recent Covid pandemic.

Among other measures aimed at ensuring the welfare of the trucking industry, he announced that in case of issuance of tenders, the local truck union would get precedence.

“We will also end harassment being meted out to truckers by issuing annual stickers which will ensure that no truck is stopped on the road for checking of papers,” said Mr. Badal.

He promised a one-time settlement scheme would also be introduced to help truckers settle pending tax arrears.

He said portable weigh scales would be introduced to check the menace of overloading on highways and special driving schools would be established at all district headquarters to facilitate youth seeking a heavy vehicle driving license.

He said the SAD-BSP alliance was aware of the problems of school vans which had become unviable due to heavy taxation.

“We will reduce road tax for school vans as compared to commercial vehicles,” he said.

He also promised to come out with a liberal policy to replace all auto-rickshaws with e-rickshaws.

“We will come out with an arrangement ensuring easy sale of current auto-rickshaws followed by provision of new e-rickshaws to the owners at nominal rate of interest. E-rickshaws will not be charged any registration fee,” he said.