A video of an interaction between a collector in Madhya Pradesh’s Shajapur district and a driver at a meeting went viral as collector Kishor Kanyal lost his cool and asked the driver, ‘Kya karoge tum? Kya aukat hoga tumhari? (What will you do? What’s even your status/worth?)” the collector said. To this, the driver said this is the reason they are fighting for that they don’t have any aukat (status). According to a PTI report, the man was then moved away from the spot.
The video was widely shared on social media with Congress MP Shashi Tharoor condemning how the collector spoke to the man.
The collector’s office issued a clarification and said the man at the meeting was threatening again and again to scale up the protest to any level after January 3. The collection used a harsh tone to restrain the man, not to hurt anyone, the clarification said.
“The meeting was held to tell them to raise their issues democratically but one of them was trying to incite others and threatening to intensify the stir, because of which I used these words. I express regret if anyone is hurt by my words,” the collector said. The meeting was held on Tuesday with around 250 truck and bus owners after they created a ruckus on Monday.
The truckers called off their protest after two days on Tuesday night after Union home secretary Ajay Bhalla said the decision to invoke the new hit-and-run case-related penal provision would be taken only after consultation with the All India Motor Transport Congress.
Truck drivers across India started a three-day strike on Monday against the new penal provision in the new law in any hit-and-run case. In the earlier Indian Penal Code, the punishment for hit-and-run cases for two years in jail. In the Bharatiya Nyay Sanhita, imprisonment in such a case can extend to ten years if such a death is not immediately reported to the police — or a fine of ₹7 lakh.
The strike on its second day triggered concerns as about 2,000 petrol pumps in western and northern India ran out of fuel stock. There were concerns that vegetables, fruits and milk supply might get affected.
