The Hindu Business Line : No service tax on truck operators: Chidambaram

ALL REST, NO WORK: Daily wage workers in Bangalore resting on a sand pit as the trucks carrying sand and stones have stopped operating due to the nationwide truckers' strike, which entered the fourth day on Tuesday. - G.R.N. Somashekar

New Delhi , Aug. 24

THE Finance Minister, Mr P. Chidambaram, on Tuesday assured the striking truck owners and operators that the Government had no intention to impose service tax on them.

"No service tax is being imposed, or will be imposed on truck owners or truck operators. This strike has no connection with truck owners or operators. There is no reason for them to continue the strike," he said at a late night press conference here.

Making a special appeal to those truck owners who operate one or two or three trucks, Mr Chidambaram said: "No tax has been imposed on you and will be imposed on you. You will not be required to register, you will not be required to collect or pay any service tax."

The All-India Motor Transport Congress (AIMTC) had on Monday said that nothing short of an assurance from the Finance Minister will convince them about the Government's stand on the vexed issue.

If the large transport corporations or cargo booking agents have any problem, their representatives should discuss the matter with the Government. Instead of discussing their problems, they are making it appear that the truck owners and operators have a problem with service tax, he said.

However, the transporters said that the Government was making futile attempts to divide the transport community into different segments. " It is childish to claim that only the goods booking agencies are to pay service tax and that the truck owners/operators shall not be affected by it. In fact, it is impossible to segregate the two. The divide and rule policy adopted by the Government to break the strike will not work", asserted Mr B. N. Dhumal, President, AIMTC. Earlier, with the Government showing no signs of bowing to its main demand for withdrawal of service tax, the striking transport operators and truck owners on Tuesday mounted further pressure by enlisting the help of petrol pump owners for intensifying their four-day long agitation.

At its press briefing here, the AIMTC fielded Mr Ashok Wadhwa, President, All-India Petrol Federation, one of the four federations representing petrol pump owners in the country. According to Mr Wadhwa, transport operators and truck owners play a vital role in bringing fuel oil for the smooth functioning of retail outlets.

"If the Government doesn't agree to the demands of the AIMTC, the four Federations would hold an emergency meeting of their managing committee by August 29 and announce the date for joining the strike", Mr Wadhwa disclosed.

Stating that the strike will continue until the demands are met, Mr Dhumal said that the exemption given to movement of essential commodities have been extended up to Wednesday. "We may not be able to extend this exemption much further," he warned.

The AIMTC also said that the increase in prices was due to black marketing by unscrupulous elements and the Government would be better served by targeting them.