Lorry owners in the State have resolved to call a nationwide bandh if the State and Central governments did not bring down the prices of petrol and diesel immediately. They also urged the governments to bring petrol and diesel under the Goods and Services Tax (GST) purview to check the frequent price rise.
The lorry owners staged a protest here on Thursday.
Lorry Owners Association general secretary Y.V. Eswara Rao said oil prices were not coming down despite a fall in international crude oil rates. Diesel price was ₹65 per litre when crude oil barrel price was $109. Now the barrel price was $83 but diesel was being sold at ₹106 per litre. The Centre was collecting ₹32 as tax on petroleum products while the State government was imposing 22.25% VAT on diesel. In addition, ₹4 and ₹1.22 per litre were being collected towards road and other cess. Increasing the price by 35 paise per litre every day was putting an unfair burden on the crisis-ridden transport sector. The governments should bring petrol and diesel under the GST to bring down the prices, he said.
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Leaders and members of The Andhra Pradesh Lorry Owners Association, The Krishna District Lorry Owners Association, The Krishna District Lorry Owners Mutually Aided Cooperative Stores, The Krishna District Lorry Owners Foundation, The Krishna District Trailers Owners Association, and The Vijayawada Two-wheeler Mechanic and Workers Welfare Association took part in the protest.
They also stressed the need to regulate the toll fees and reducing the third party insurance premium.