Truckers across India will go on a nationwide strike on October 9 and 10 to protest the Goods and Services Tax, exorbitant diesel prices and “corruption” on roads, PTI reported. “Transporters have decided to lodge their protest against the callous and indifferent attitude of government officials, Goods and Services Tax, diesel price hike and corruption on roads by observing a ‘chakka jam’ [road blockade] on October 9 and 10,” All India Motor Transport Congress President SK Mittal said in New Delhi on Wednesday.
Mittal said that some of the laws under the new tax regime have led to coercive registration and unnecessary compliance by truckers and transporters. The All India Motor Transport Congress has also called for bringing diesel under the ambit of the Goods and Services Tax. It wants diesel prices to be revised on a quarterly basis, and made uniform across the country, instead of the current system.
The body claims to represent around 93 lakh truckers and around 50 lakh bus and tourist operators in India. The All India Transporters Welfare Association, another transporters’ body, has decided to back the strike.
The road blockade will be in effect from 8 am on October 9 to 8 pm on October 10, the Hindu Businessline reported.
The transporters also claimed that corruption on roads had assumed “great proportions”. All India Motor Transport Congress Chairperson Kultaran Singh Atwal demanded that traffic police be allowed to issue penalties only with electronically verifiable proof. Singh also suggested that traffic police be disallowed from stopping vehicles on the road, unless there are specific intelligence inputs.
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