Truckers to go off roads from July 20

​Hyderabad: The lorry owners in the State, who have alleged that lorry owners and workers were losing livelihood with the policies of both the State and Central governments, informed that they along with All-India Motor Transport Congress (AIMTC) have decided to go for an indefinite strike from 6 am of July 20.

A meeting of the lorry owners was held here in the city on Monday. The lorry owners have been demanding the government to bring diesel under 18 per cent tax slab of Goods and Services Tax, and also wanted the prices to be reviewed once in three months. The lorry owners have also demanded the Centre to remove the countrywide toll booths besides decreasing the third-party insurance fee, which has been increased three-fold and removing GST and commission of the agents.

The truckers have demanded the Centre to review the proposed new Road Safety Bill and exempt the lorry owners from Section 44 AE of Income Tax, e-way bills and TDS fee. Telangana Lorry Owners Association president N Bhaskar Reddy said that the lorry owners were made to suffer even more after formation of separate State. He recalled that the lorry owners had gone to strike twice, in June 2015 and in March 2017.

He said that the State government had given in writing assuring to address their issues within three months and the bandh was called off. Not even a single issue of the lorry owners was solved by the government as promised, he alleged.

The State-level demands include implementation of single permit system between Andhra Pradesh and Telangana, honouring the agreement between State government and lorry owners made during 2015 and 2017, ban on overloading of lorries and action against consumers who encourage overloading. They also wanted the government not to implement the ‘driver licence cancelation’ policy in overloading and accidents.

Stating that the transport checkposts have increased on the roads, the lorry owners demanded the government to remove these checkposts. They have urged each and every lorry owner, DCM, small goods transport vehicles, autos to take part in the bandh. The lorry owners have decided to stop transport of goods to other States from Monday and goods transport from other States to Telangana from July 19.

Transport Minister P Mahender Reddy said that the State government was for the single permit system and alleged that the Andhra Pradesh government was not showing interest on this and linking this with the APSRTC buses. He said that the government would once again send a delegation of officers to Andhra Pradesh for talks.