NEW DELHI: Truckers across the country will go on an indefinite strike from Tuesday midnight to push their demand for abolishment of toll tax and rationalisation of duty of diesel, the transporters? apex body said on Tuesday.
?We will go on an indefinite strike from Tuesday midnight. All the transporters will down their shutters and there will be no movement of goods on the roads till our demands are met by the government,? All India Motor Transport Congress (AIMTC) president Charan Singh Lohara said.
AIMTC claims the support of all state transporters? association with a combined fleet size of 48,00,000 trucks. ?We want the advalorem duty on diesel to be replaced with fixed rate of duty on per litre of the fuel,? Lohara said.
He alleged that the government is encashing the international crisis on crude oil prices many-fold and forcing the truckers to buy premium diesel at higher and unregulated prices.
He also said that the government is also using the toll taxes on highways as a tool to earn extra revenue by continuing to charge the tax even after the recovery of investment in construction of highways. The government also increased the tax by 50% in February 2008 instead of doing away with it.
Asked about the service tax relief given by the government to the transporters recently, Lohara said, ?The exemption is an eyewash. We are still being sent service tax notice by including us in other categories.?
The transport industry provides employment to two crore people directly and gives bread and butter to another 10 crore people by including their family members, Lohara said.
The strike, however, can be withdrawn if the government concedes to their demand. AIMTC representatives will meet the finance minister P Chidambaram in due course to discuss their demand. ?We will meet the finance minister in the afternoon to present our demand. We will not withdraw our strike call till our demands are met,? he said.
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