Addressing a press conference on the second day of nationwide stir by the transporters, AK Joshi, secretary, road transport and highways, said he has had talks with officials in the petroleum and food ministries, the main agencies which go in for long-term contracts with the transporters and "they are ready to apply the escalation clause".

For the day-to-day contracts, the hike could be passed on to the consumers while for the long-term contracts, the escalation clause could be applied by the agencies involved, he said.

Joshi said that the Centre was open for talks with the striking truckers, but reiterated that the hike in diesel prices would not be rolled back. Prime minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee also said the government was not considering any price cut.

OP Agarwal, president of the All India Motor Transport Congress (AIMTC), said there was no communication from the Centre since the last meeting with the government on October 20, a day before the strike began. In all, five rounds of talks were held between the government and transporters before the strike began.

He claimed that there was a lot of scope for reducing refining and excise charges.

Joshi said that all possible steps were being taken to maintain the supply of essential commodities. He said that the government would not shy away from invoking Essential Services Maintenance Act.

He claimed that in most of the states, the impact of the strike was partial. "Inter-state movement of heavy duty trucks is slow, but the light commercial vehicles are moving maintaining the supply of essential and perishable commodities."

The road transport secretary said he also had talks with the member (railway traffic) on the issue and the railways have been activated to broaden the area of cargo operations besides putting additional wagons on the tracks.Regarding reports of price hike of essential items after the truckers went off the roads, Joshi said, "The increase was due to anxiety among the people who started buying more quantities of the commodities for fear of a breach in supply."

AIMTC, the apex body of the transporters, claimed that the agitation was "total and peaceful" and expressed its readiness to open dialogue with the government on the rollback of diesel prices. On the Centre's threat to invoke ESMA, Agarwal said it would only "add fuel to the fire" and the transporters were ready to face any situation.