Truckers' strike on June 28

Responding to the call given by the All India Motor Transport Congress, truckers of Punjab yesterday declared they would observe a strike on June 28 in protest against the recent steep hike in petrol and diesel prices.

"Since it is not possible for us to operate due to frequent hikes in diesel and petrol prices, we have decided to observe a one-day strike on June 28, and if the hike is not rolled back, the strike may turned into an indefinite one," Bhupinder Singh Pandher, spokesman of the transport congress, told reporters here.

He said the value-added tax (VAT) made it difficult to operate the transport business. But the increase of Rs 2 per litre in the diesel price had made it impossible to run the transport business, he said, adding that in the current situation truckers had no option but to close their ventures.

Pandher said for now the essential commodities had been exempt from the strike but when an indefinite strike happened, they would be roped in.

He said so far the government was taking credit for maintaining stability in the prices of the commodities but from now onwards the impact of the steep hike in diesel prices would be felt by the consumers.