Day 2 of lockdown: Truckers abandon vehicles, delivery boys fret about safety

NEW DELHI: Two days into a 21-day lockdown, India’s hugely disrupted supply chain for essential commodities struggled to get going in the face of a fresh set of challenges — truckers abandoning vehicles on highways, manufacturers running out of inventory and delivery agents of e-tailers refusing to venture out for fear of police harassment — even as state governments and local authorities appeared to remove some of the roadblocks that had stalled the distribution network on the first day.

Transporters’ associations and members of the Agriculture Produce Market Committee said the Centre’s decision to exempt goods trucks from highway toll had made little difference because drivers and helpers had started abandoning stranded vehicles in anticipation of a prolonged logjam.

With trucks unable to reach their destinations, wholesale markets have been hit by a shortage of agricultural produce. “Drivers have started abandoning trucks and hiking back home, even if these places are 200-300km from where they are. We request the Centre to urgently ask the states, particularly collectors, to supply food and water to our stranded drivers,” Bal Malkit Singh, chairman of the All India Motor