The Hindu Business Line : AP truckers join strike

THIRTEEN associations of truckers and transporters in the State have decided to join the nationwide indefinite strike called by All-India Motor Transport Congress (AIMTC) from Friday midnight in protest against the inclusion of transporters in the service tax net.

About two lakh trucks in the State would keep off the roads from tomorrow. The transporters, however, would exempt essential services from the strike purview.

Mr Nitin Kumar Shah of Hyderabad Goods Transport Association (HGTA) told Business Line that the 10-per cent tax would further swell inflation that had already reached an alarming level. "There will be no booking and delivery, no loading and unloading of consignments and other transport related activities from midnight tonight. We are suspending all the activities indefinitely," he said.

Mr Nitin is the Chairman of Special Committee on Service Tax formed by the association. "Truckers are involved in three stages of product development. They need us for transport of raw material to the manufacturer, from manufacturer to dealers and from dealers to retailers. If they make us to pay 10 per cent at each stage, price of any product would shoot up," he said.

The overall impact of levying Service Tax on transport industry would be about Rs 20,000 crore. "Ultimately, common man is going to bear all this," Mr Nitin pointed out.

Appealing to the Prime Minister, Dr Manmohan Singh, to intervene, he said the industry was already burdened by ever increasing fuel costs. "They have revised fuel prices for 15 times in the last two years, putting a lot of pressure on the industry," he said.

"While bringing us under the Service Tax, they exempted the Railways from it. This is a double blow for us. Because the Railways could drain away at least 30 per cent of our long distance services," he said.

Mr Kishore Kumar Jain, President of HGTA, said that transporters ended up paying half of their turnover on a variety of taxes and permits. "Though we are contributing more than Rs 2,00,000 crore to the Gross Domestic Product, we are not getting a margin of not more than four per cent," he said.

More Stories on : Roadways | Trade & Labour Unions | Andhra Pradesh

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