Nationwide truckers' strike from July 2

New Delhi, Jul 2: Lakhs of trucks across the country are on strike from Tuesday, July 1 midnight in response to a nationwide strike call given by the the All India Motor Transport Congress (AIMTC), New Delhi. This is to press their tax-related demands as the last minute talks with government failed.

However, movement of essential supplies including milk, medicines, vegetables, fruits, grains and LPG have been spared from the stir. Transport agencies and truckers are on indefinite strike in protest against the hike in sales tax on diesel, toll tax and court order to implement the speed governors rule.

The truckers are demanding that sales tax on diesel be removed altogether and VAT be imposed. Another demand of the truckers is reduction in toll tax. "We are going ahead with our strike call. There will be no truck on the roads from Tuesday mid-night as the talks with the government did not produce any result," Gurinder Pal Singh, who represented the All-India Motor Transport Congress, at the talks told media here after the discussions with government officials.

AIMTC officials presented a note of their demands to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and UPA Chairperson Sonia Gandhi. They also presented their list of demands to Finance Ministry, Petroleum Ministry and the Ministry of Roads, Highways and Shipping.

AIMTC claims the support of all states' transport associations with a combined fleet size of 48,00,000 trucks. Officials of the Transport Ministry and the Finance Ministry were also involved in the last minute discussions.

OneIndia News