Diesel price hike to push freight charges by 15 pc: AIMTC

MUMBAI: All India Motor Transport Congress ( AIMTC), which called for a 24-hour token strike from mid-night of Wednesday to protest diesel price hike, has said that the freight charges will go up by 15 percent if the government did not roll back the hike in diesel prices.

"The hike in diesel prices has jacked up our cost of operations by almost 15 percent. It will be difficult for us to absorb and will pass on the hike to the customers," AIMTC president Malkit Singh told reporters here.

"We demand a roll back. We have decided to keep the trucks off the roads for one day as a mark of protest," Singh said.

The transporters are already under the burden of ever-increasing prices of toll, tyres, spare parts and lubricants, he lamented adding the government has triggered the "tsunami of inflation" by raising diesel prices.

The AIMTC president claimed that 75 lakh trucks will go off the roads due to the strike all over the country.

He said they have given a 30-day time to the government to take back its decision, failing which the transporters will resort to an indefinite 'chakka jam.'

The government's decision to effect a Rs 5 per litre hike in diesel prices has unleashed uncontrollable inflationary forces, resulting in all-round and back-breaking hike in the prices of essential commodities particularly food prices, he said.

"Seventy percent of the trucking population constitutes single truck owners and more than 85 percent people engaged in this sector are helpers, labourers, mechanics etc," he said.

He also demanded that the Central and State governments should reduce the excise, customs duty and VAT on diesel which constitute around 50 percent of the diesel cost.

"We also demand that there should be a uniform pricing policy on diesel to remove price variation across states, which is as much as between 16-24 percent," he said.

Meanwhile, state traders body, Federation of Associations of Maharashtra has also decided to shut business on Thursday to protest the centre's decision on FDI in retail.