Coimbatore : Goods worth Rs 500 crore remained unmoved in godowns and manufacturing units in three nearby districts, due to the all-India lorry strike, which entered the second day today.

Nearly 10,000 lorries were off the roads in Coimbatore, resulting in goods like motors and pumps, grinders, engineering products, casting, textile items, including powerloom fabrics and yarn, lying in the production units.

This resulted in a loss of business worth over Rs 300 crore, textile association sources said.

In nearby Tirupur district, a knitwear hub, banian articles and readymade garments were lying in factories, which were to be transported to upcountry areas and also various ports for exports, leading to a loss of Rs 200 crore.

Some 8,000 lorries in Tirupur district were off the roads.Similarly, about 5 lakh kg of tea, taken in auction was lying in godowns in Coonoor and Udhagamandalam.

According to sources in Egg Traders’ Association, nearly 5 crore eggs were stacked up in various poultries in Namakkal and Rs 20 crore worth chicken was lying in Palladam in Tirupur district.

Tirupur Exporters’ Association president Raja M Shanmugham said the strike had created a major impact on knitwear exporting units as they could not transport the finished garments for shipment. To the season-conscious and design-driven export market, theon-time supply was vital.

The strike came at a time of stiff competition with Bangladesh, Cambodia, Myanmar, Sri Lanka, Pakistan, Vietnam and China in the international market and the trade here was struggling to sustain in business, he
said in a statement.

He added that he had sent a requisition letter to Union Road Transport Minister Nitin Gadkari for his immediate intervention to amicably settle the issue to end the strike.