Jamshedpur: The transportation of goods remained suspended today in Jamshedpur as truckers stayed off the roads due to a symbolic strike called by the All India Motor Transport Congress, affecting business worth crores.
Jamshedpur Transport Welfare Association (JTWA) joined the strike called by All India Motor Transport Congress which kept hundreds of trucks off the roads across the city on Monday beginning a two-day strike to protest against the GST and calling for an end to daily revision of fuel prices.
We have launched two-day ‘chakka jam’ (strike) from today morning as we had announced. Transporters all over the country are up in the arms against GST, diesel prices, harassment of truck operators and corruption on roads and toll policies,” said Akhilesh Singh Yadav, President of JTWA.
City transporters in large numbers assembled at the Transport Nagar in Mango on Monday morning and staged protest against the disruptive policies under Goods and Services Tax (GST) and demanded the inclusion of diesel in the new indirect tax�s ambit so that there is a common diesel price across the country.
Truck operators claim they were suffering because GST-related rules had created confusion because of the existence of Reverse Charge Mechanism (RCM) and Forward Charge Mechanism (FCM) in the new tax system.
Trucks were seen off the roads in the city since morning, with most transport vehicles parked near check posts on highways.
Akhilesh Singh threatened to go on indefinite strike if they demands are not met.
The strike if caused inconvenience to people, the government should be held responsible, he said.
Hundreds of people, including drivers, cleaners, porters and their support staff were also participating in the two-day strike.
It is high time the government rationalised taxes on diesel and reduce its prices in line with the international market. Diesel must be brought under the ambit of GST to bring uniformity of pricing across the country, and the prices should be revised on quarterly basis,” Singh said.