Truckers, government continue talks; strike continues

New Delhi, Jul 3 (UNI) The government and truckers' union today continued talks for the second day to end the nation-wide truck strike called by the All India Motor Transport Congress, to demand rollback of the hike in toll tax and rising fuel costs.

On the second day of the strike, long queues of trucks were seen outside Delhi near Ghaziabad, even as AIMTC maintained that it would continue with the strike till there was any favourable response from the government.

''We will continue with the strike till our demands are met,'' said a AIMTC spokesman.

It also claimed that over 4.8 million truckers had joined the strike, resulting in halt in movement of goods.

Yesterday, the truckers had a meeting with Union Transport Minister T R Baalu that remained inconclusive. They met several officials of Finance Ministry today on abolishment of service tax on cargo handling and storage.

The CPM, meanwhile, slammed AIMTC for causing disruption in supplies of essential commodities. The party asked the Centre to intervene an find a speedy solution to the stalemate.

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