Law banning export of iron ore 'cost 15,000 lorry drivers their jobs'

BANGALORE—The decision by the Karnataka government to ban the export of iron ore has cost 15,000 lorry drivers across the state their jobs, it was claimed Tuesday.

Gurar Shanth, president of the Lorry Owners’ Association, said at a press conference that the law enacted in July banning the export of iron ore in an attempt to curb illegal mining in the state had had a severe impact on the trucking industry.

After the law went into effect, trucking companies repossessed their lorries from the drivers, who had been leasing them from the companies.
“I can feel the pain of our drivers and their families, but what we can do?” Shanth said. “The government has banned the export of iron ore, and we’re unable to give jobs to our drivers, and we’re unable to pay the monthly installment on which we bought our trucks.”

Shanth added: “We lost our land because of the mining, and after that we entered the transport business to make a living, and now we’ve lost our trucks.”

“Our drivers and their families are in a state of shock. I don’t know how they’ll manage to survive and send their children to school if the government doesn’t scrap the law soon,” said Veda Mutho, a member of the Lorry Owners’ Association.

Asked what he would do if the government did not withdraw the law, one of the lorry drivers at the press conference said, “Suicide is the only choice.”

Shanth said all he could do was pin his hopes on a positive response from the state government to the association’s demand that the law be annulled.