Demanding removal of the vintage clause under Civil Hired Transport Contract with the army in the region, All Ladakh Transport Association, Leh and Kargil staged a peaceful protest on July 24 in Leh.

The transport association of both Leh and Kargil district seek permanent waive of the vintage clause due to the loss incurred due to the limited earning season in the region. As per vintage clause, the light motor vehicles are restricted from plying after 6 years, 10 years for the buses and 12 years in case of load carriers.  While under J&K Motor Vehicle Act the vehicles are allowed to ply on the road upto 25 years.

Addressing the gathering, Dorjay Angchuk, President, All Ladakh Transport Association said, “Around 20,000 family’s livelihood is dependent on the commercial vehicles in Ladakh. The issue faced by the transport is directly or indirectly affecting all the people also.  The vintage clause was introduced in the year 2012, and since then the transport association has been raising the issue.”

Highlighting the importance of the transport sector in the limited economic season of Ladakh, he stressed on permanent waiving off the Vintage clause from the Civil Hired Transport Contract engaged on army duty.

Mohammad Hassan Pasha, Vice President, ALTA, Kargil said, “The commercial vehicle of this region plies on road mainly during the economic season which is only for six months. Because of which the overall vehicle fitness condition is better than the vehicles of the plain areas.”

A copy of the memorandum was submitted to the Narendra Modi Prime Minister through Avny Lavasa, DC, Leh. 

Reiterating the harmony and cordial relation of the people of this region with the army, Mohd Shafi Lassu, President Ladakh Transport Cooperative Society said that it is disheartening to see such attitudes in return despite knowing the hardship faced by the people. 

He threatened for the indefinite strike in the region if the transporters’ issue is not resolved within a few days.

The memorandum reads, “All Ladakh Transport Association, Leh and Kargil had been approaching the then Defence Minister, Manohar Parikar and Arun Jaitley to remove the vintage clause imposed against the civil transport vehicle being hired and engaged on Army duty. The ministry of defense, Govt. of India issued a waiver letter to the 14 Core Leh before the end of financial year March 2016 and 17 respectively. But unfortunately, the vintage waiver letter is still in pipeline of the Ministry of Defence till date despite the assurance given by the Defence Minister Nirmala Sitaraman to delegates of Transport association for waiving the clause in January 2018”.

"Ladakh being a frontier and tribal region we request to delete the vintage clause form the guidelines of Civil Hired Transport contract with the 14 Corp C/O 56 APO for Ladakh region issued from the MOD from the year 2019 and waive off from the current year 2018. The system of negotiation with local transporter as per the defense ministry special standing order 1989 be maintained, for which all the transporters of Ladakh region have been organised into cooperative society as per the Defence Minister instruction”, the memorandum further reads.

Members of the different association also expressed their view and demanded permanent solution for the vintage clause.