On Sunday night, transporters of 3,500 fuel tankers and over 2,000 LPG cylinder trucks stayed off the roads to protest against the government’s newly introduced Value Added Tax(VAT). The truck owners demanded that the government withdraw the 14.5 percent VAT on transportation of the fuels.
According to a report in Hansindia, ‘’The Andhra Pradesh Petroleum Tankers(APPT) Owners Association pledged its support to the strike and decided not to send vehicles to Telangana till the issue is resolved.”
Petrol bunks and gas agencies operated normally on Monday but, the dealers' association said that the filling stations will soon be out of stock.
The Telangana government had several meetings with representatives of the Telangana State Petroleum Tank Trucks Association till Sunday evening but failed in its effort to convince them to postpone the strike for a few days.
‘’Withdrawal of the 14.5 percent VAT on fuel transportation is the only solution and no other formula is acceptable to it, said Telangana State Petroleum Tank Trucks Association President K. Rajashekhar Reddy to Hansindia.
The Hindu had earlier reported on May 25 that petrol and diesel tankers were planning to stay off the roads in the coming week to protest against the Telangana government’s decision to levy the new tax.
On May 9, a GO (Government order) was issued to levy a VAT of 14.5% on the total bill amount.