Cuttack: The Orissa state truck owners’ association has decided to go on strike from December 15 to press for their 11-point charter of demands, including the abolition of green tax.
The association claimed that the green tax imposed by the state government and illegal collections by police and Transport department have hit the truck owners in the state. “We had raised our demands with the Transport minister time and again but to no avail. The state government has unilaterally imposed a green tax of Rs 4,000 each on trucks older than 15 years. We urge the government to abolish the tax,” said the association secretary Rabi Narayan Satpathy.
According to Satpathy, the state government has imposed 26 per cent additional tax on diesel despite stiff opposition from truckers.
“The government has failed to finalise a fare structure for trucks since 2008. A technical committee has already submitted a report on the issue to the state government,” Satpathy said.
Talking about extortion by police and transport department officials the association said: “Truckers are being forced pay around Rs 5,000 as extortion money while transporting goods to various places in the state. Police and transport department officials usually collect the money against fake receipts,” Satpathy alleged.
PNN