Vijayawada: Nearly 40,000 trucks kept off the roads in Vijayawada, in response to the indefinite strike call by lorry owners’ associations across the country from Friday. The lorry owners, who have excluded emergency services such as water, milk and medical supplies from the strike, are demanding that the Union government should bring diesel under Goods and Services Tax (GST) regime.They have also given a charter of demands, which have been kept pending for long, for the perusal of the Centre. The truck owners are demanding a review in the toll charges, and a cut in the third party insurance premium tariffs. They are also pressing the Centre for issuing national permits to buses, and scrapping the TDS exemption under income tax Section 44 AE.AP Lorry Owners Association general secretary, YV Eswar Rao, said that truck owners have to spend 65% of their revenues only on diesel, and another 15% to pay toll tax. They claim to be losing another 5% in the form of commissions and bribes to corrupt officials across all states.Price of diesel has increased by Rs 21, which is about 50% of its original value, in the past four years, but freight charges have not grown even 15% in the same period, said Eswar Rao. “We cannot run vehicles by incurring losses. Given this situation, we have no other option but to go on an indefinite strike,” he said.

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