IANS/New Delhi
Supply of goods was affected in most parts of the country yesterday as hundreds of thousands of trucks went off the roads on a nationwide strike called by the All India Motor Transport Congress (AIMTC) to oppose the toll system.
Delivery of essential commodities like milk, vegetables and medicines, however, were kept out of the strike’s purview.
The AIMTC is demanding scrapping of the toll system, claiming that toll barriers have become dens of corruption, harassment and extortion. It claims that the toll system is causing unnecessary delays and leading to wastage of time and fuel.
The government has, however, ruled out scrapping of toll.
The truckers’ union is also demanding a one-time payment of taxes besides simplification of Tax Deducted at Source.
Sources said the strike caused losses running into hundreds of millions of rupees to the trading community, truckers and even the government.
“The strike is likely to cause losses of Rs1,500 crore to truckers and over Rs10,000 crore to the government daily,” AIMTC president Bhim Wadhwa said.
The AIMTC claims to represent the owners of about 8.7mn trucks as well as 2mn buses and tempos.
However, another truckers’ body, the All India Transport Welfare Association (AITWA), did not join the strike.
Talks between the AIMTC and the transport ministry failed after the truckers rejected the government’s offer to implement an e-toll (electronic toll) system by December.
About 1.6mn trucks went off the roads in Telangana and Andhra Pradesh yesterday as part of the indefinite strike by the truckers to protest against the present toll system.
Movement of goods to Hyderabad, Visakhapatnam, Vijayawada, Guntur and other major towns was affected severely by the strike.
Truck operators in the two Telugu states are also seeking a single-permit system in view of the bifurcation of Andhra Pradesh. They want Telangana and Andhra Pradesh to enter into a single-permit agreement so that vehicles can ply between the two states on payment of a fixed tax.
Truck operators in Punjab, Haryana and Himachal Pradesh also joined the strike, affecting the movement of goods in the region.
The ever-busy stretches of the National Highways No 1 and 8 like the Amritsar-Delhi route (NH-1) and Delhi-Jaipur (NH-8) had lesser traffic yesterday as truckers went on the strike.
Movement of trucks within West Bengal, however, remained unaffected as the state’s largest truckers’ body did not participate directly in the strike.
Trucks are parked in a yard in Bengaluru after transporters under the banner of All India Motor Transport Congress (AIMTC) went on a nationwide strike
