Lorry strike enters 7th day

The strike by lorry owners completed its sixth day on Wednesday. Lorry owner associations throughout the country went on strike on July 20 to press for their demands including bringing diesel under GST.

There are about 2.25 lakh vehicles in the state and about 5,000 of them load and unload goods and commodities, including rice and cement, in Hyderabad every day.

The Telangana Oil Tankers Owners Association, which has 3,000 vehicles,  conducted a strike for one day on July 24. Association secretary K. Rajasekhar Reddy said trucks that carry essential goods cannot go on strike for a long time, as it hurts the people. He said the drivers would be working night shifts on Wednesday to make up for the the impact of the strike.

The primary demands of the lorry owners unions are to make vehicle taxes common and stop asking for assessment of lorries, apart including diesel in the GST net.  Additionally, lorry unions of Telangana state demanded that the government make single permit licence to travel in Andhra Pradesh, as is being implement for the rest of the neighboring



states.

Elsewhere, the Federation of Telangana and Andhra Pradesh Chamber of Commerce urged the Centre and the state to take immediate steps to end the truckers strike.

“While the demands of lorry association may be genuine, strike is not the solution to every issue and the Central government should take immediate measures to diffuse the crisis and call the relevant association for talks,” the federation said.

The state governments need to represent the gravity of the situation to the Centre,the industry body said.

It is estimated that nearly 93 lakh trucks and other goods vehicles were off the roads across the country, disrupting the movement of goods, the federation said in a statement. The strike has had an effect on the industry trade and commerce, exporters, and caused loss to the state and central exchequer, it added.

“We hope the government of Telangana state will impress upon the Centre to mediate in the matter and resolve the deadlock in the mutual interest of all concerned,” the federation said.