ACOGOA called nationwide indefinite strike in UP

| | Lucknow | in Lucknow
The nationwide indefinite strike called by All Indian Confederation of Goods Operators Association and All India Motor Transport Congress evoked partial response in Uttar Pradesh, even though around 50,000 transporters in the state joined the stirfrom Friday.
As all essential products, including vegetable, medicines, milk, petroleum products and some others, were kept out of the purview of the strike, not much impact of the stir was visible in UP.
Transporters owning around 95 lakh trucks and 50 lakh buses nationwide struck work pressing for their eight-point charter of demand after talks failed with Union Transport Minister Nitin Gadkari on Thursday.
The prominent demands of transporters include controlling price of diesel and bringing it under the ambit of Goods and Services Tax (GST), revision of diesel price only once in a quarter, ensuring toll-free barriers on highways and eliminating e-way bill system for transporters.  The strikers also demanded abolition of toll plazas on highways saying that these add 15 to 20 percent in logistics cost. The imposition of the GST on third party insurance of trucks has also added additional burden on truckers and they demanded its withdrawal.
The state was likely to suffer a loss of Rs 10-15 crore daily due to the strike, though UP Transport Association said that they would talk to Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath and Transport minister Swatantra Deo Singh over the issue soon. 
Truck and Welfare Association president Rajesh Singh Chauhan said in Lucknow that they would continue their strike till the demands were met.
He said that transporters have stopped booking fresh consignments in the state and if the government refused to accept their demands, in coming days, transportation of essential commodities would also be stopped.
There are over 1.5 lakh trucks in the state and the number of the buses is estimated to be in the excess of one lakh.