Truck unions across the country have called an indefinite strike from today onwards with demands such as lowering diesel prices and toll fees among others.

The Unions of truckers claim that more than 9.3 million are their members and the strike was announced on May 17.

The Government is trying its best to persuade truck unions so that the highly road transport concentrated economy is not affected with the call for a strike, officials said.

“We held a meeting with Union transport minister Nitin Gadkari yesterday but that was inconclusive. We met finance minister Piyush Goyal at 2130 hrs yesterday,” Bal Malkit Singh, chairman of the All-India Motor Transport Congress core committee, told over the phone.

However, Singh seemed skeptical over the issue that any solution can be found after the late-night meeting and said that the strike starts as per the schedule.

As per the schedule, the truckers will stop their services from 0600 hrs 20 July that is today. As per the Union’s calculations, they are bound to suffer losses at Rs.4,000 crore due to the strike.

Truckers demand GST implementation for the price of diesel so that it comes under-regulated commodity and it will be a great reduction from the present Central and state taxes, he said.

Another thing which the truckers oppose is the “flawed and non-transparent” toll collection system that helps road concessioners to charge at their will, Mr. Singh said. He alleged that the total time and fuel loss for it is more than Rs. 1.5 trillion annually on account of it.

The high insurance premia is also an issue against which the Truckers want a reduction in third-party premium and exemption on third-party premia from GST, he said.

They also want exemptions and abolitions indirect taxes, special national permits for all buses and trucks and struck off the direct port delivery tendering system, he added.

Transporters tried to contact Mr. Gadkari’s office for which they got a reply that instant solutions to all of their demands cannot be met but the government is in the process of considering all of their demands sensitively.

“We are very open to looking into all their issues and hope that better sense prevails,” the ministry official said.

As part of the campaign, the School Bus and Company Bus Owners Association of Maharashtra expressed its support to the truckers strike.

There are around 8,000 buses in Mumbai and 40,000 buses in all of Maharashtra under the association.  “All these buses will be off the road today,” Anil Garg, association president told news agencies.

He also said that the truckers are planning for an indefinite strike but his association will take part only for a day to show support for them.

The All India Motor Transport Congress was established in 1936 and claims to be the apex body of all transporters. Around 93 lakh truckers and around 50 lakh buses, tourist taxi and cab operators come under the association.

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