Lorry owners in the State have appealed to the Chief Minister and the Transport Minister to call for talks immediately to find an amicable solution to their charter of demands and avert an indefinite truckers’ strike from December 27.
The strike call given by State Lorry Owners Federation, Tamil Nadu, has received the support and backing of South Zone Motor Transporters’ Welfare Association (SIMTA), an apex organisation of truckers, transporters and passenger vehicle operators.
Addressing journalists in Tiruchi on Monday, SIMTA general secretary G.R. Shanmugappa said lorry owners had been pressing the State government to accept their eight-point charter of demands for the past six months and decided to go on strike only as a last resort.
He alleged that it took about three to four days to obtain fitness certificate for goods vehicles in the State. However, the certificate was being issued in three to four hours in Karnataka.
Nearly 1.5 lakh vehicles from Tamil Nadu were being registered in neighbouring Karnataka due to this problem, leading to loss of several crores of rupees to the State government, he pointed out.
The lorry owners appealed to the State government to bring in a system whereby the fitness certificate could be obtained from any regional transport office after inspection of vehicles instead of being taken to the place where it was purchased.
Mr. Shanmugappa said the price of diesel was lower in neighbouring States such as Karnataka and Puducherry than Tamil Nadu and urged the State government to reduce VAT on diesel to bring down the price of the fuel.
The truck operators generated revenue to the tune of ₹4,000 crore to ₹5,000 crore for the government by way of taxes and GST. It was really disappointing that the Chief Minister had not called the lorry owners for talks yet, he said adding that they felt ‘ignored.”
He blamed the Transport Minister for pushing them towards the indefinite strike.
Mr. Shanmugappa said around four lakh lorries would be off the roads in the State from December 27. Lorries from other States too would not enter Tamil Nadu. Even mini trucks and other smaller vehicles numbering around 12 lakh would not run in the State.
