T'Nadu has highest percentage of motor transport workers

New Delhi, Jun 27 (UNI) Delhi may be having the largest population of vehicles in the country, but it is Tamil Nadu which accounts for the highest percentage of motor transport workers, followed by Maharashtra and Karnataka.

The three southern states together account for 54 per cent of the total average daily employment in Motor Transport Undertakings.

''Tamil Nadu tops the list with 24.63 per cent followed by 21.31 per cent in Maharashtra and 8.26 per cent in Karnataka,'' the Labour Ministry said today.

According to the information made available by various state governments and Union Territories to the Labour Bureau for 2004, Andhra Pradesh has the distinction of reporting highest percentage of registered Motor Transport Undertakings under the Motor Transport Workers Act, 1961.

The state accounted for 28.4 per cent of the total registered Motor Transport Undertakings followed by 24.1 per cent in Assam, 9.7 per cent in Kerala, 8.77 per cent in Bihar and 7.7 per cent in Rajasthan.

The data on state-wise distribution of Motor Transport Undertakings reveals that smaller units employing less than 10 workers constitute the bulk of 98 per cent of the total number of undertakings in all the states and UTs.

The bigger units employing 1000 or more workers are reported to be only 0.2 per cent.

The data also reveals that smaller undertakings (employing less than 50 workers), accounting for 98.8 per cent of total undertakings, employed only 17.3 per cent of workers, while the bigger undertakings had 70.9 per cent of the total employment.

A total of 16,472 motor transport undertakings submitted returns in 2004 and the average daily number of workers employed in these undertakings stood at 317202.

UNI