Truck operators across the country will go on an indefinite strike from October 1 in support of their charter of demands including abolition of toll plazas, revocation of order on fixing speed governors in vehicles.
Addressing a press conference here on Thursday, G.R. Shanmugappa, chairman, Toll Committee of All India Motor Transport Congress said that as many as 93 lakh transport vehicles including trucks across the country will participate in the strike from October 1.
There are around 373 toll plazas in the country. Of this 62 toll plazas have already collected Rs. 21,897 crore against the investment of Rs. 13,415 crore. But the companies continued to collect 100 per cent toll fee.
Mr. Shanmugappa said the process of collecting toll is not transparent and prone to corruption and malpractices by the companies. AIMTC has demanded an alternate method of toll collection from the government, which is transparent, corruption free and fair to the road users.
He said that frequent stoppages of transport vehicles at toll barriers resulted in loss of man hours worth Rs. 27,000 crore and fuel loss worth Rs. 60,000 crore amounting to a total loss of Rs. 87,000 crore.
Truckers have demanded collection of one-time toll annually and relaxation in the TDS. He said the transporters were already covered under TDS, but the rate has been increased to 2% from 0% and there was no clarity on several issues. The AIMTC has also urged the Centre to revoke the order on installation of speed governors in vehicles and to scrap the move to abolish 10-year-old trucks.
The Pondicherry Lorry Owners Association has also extended its support to the indefinite strike. As many as 7,000 trucks and transport vehicles in Puducherry and Karaikal regions will participate in the strike, said Senthil Kumar, spokesperson of Pondicherry Lorry Owners Association.
Though rules mandate that toll should not be collected for local vehicles the company continued to collect toll from vehicles passing through Morattandi, he said.
Truckers have demanded collection of one-time toll annually and relaxation in the TDS
