BENGALURU: After check-posts were eliminated by the new Goods and
Services Tax
(GST) regime, truckers are now demanding that toll booths on highways be closed. They want all 347 toll plazas across the country closed.
Karnataka has 47 toll booths on its highways. The truckers are on a nationwide, two-strike from Monday to pressing for their demand for a ‘Toll-free India’. Their other demands inlude bringing motor fuels under the preview GST.
As the token strike (chakka jam) was launched at 8 in the morning, over 50 lakh heavy trucks went off national highways. In Karnataka, close to 4.25 lakh truckers are taking part in the strike. “Our objective is to realize ‘toll-free India’. And we will do whatever it takes to remove toll booths from highways,” said
GR Shanmugappa
, president of Federation of Karnataka State Lorry Owners and Agents Association.
The Centre closed 1,647 commercial tax check posts after the national taxation system GST was rolled out on July 1, as they have place in the new tax regime. “When the government could abolish check posts, they can close toll plazas, too,” Shanmugappa added. The toll plazas have been set up to collect road user charge by developers of the highway stretches concerned. A majority of the stretches have been developed on public private partnership (PPP) model and concessioners are allowed to collect user charges as a mode to recover their investment.
“The main problem with the toll booths is that they are time consuming. The wait even results in loss of diesel. And the system functions better without toll plazas,” said M Prabhakar Reddy, core committee member of
United Petroleum Federation
(UPF). According to a rough estimate, the wait at toll plazas contributes to 10 hours of delay in the journey between Bengaluru and New Delhi as the highway contains 50 toll booths. In a bid to eliminate the time delay at toll plazas, the Centre has proposed to introduce radio frequency identification device (RFID) tag for vehicles and dedicated tracks at toll plazas but the truckers association feels it would not help given the country’s tech unpreparedness.
“Adopting hi-tech solutions has become a wishful thinking. If we opt for RFID, then it will go the way of demonetisation and GST whose implementation dogged tech glitches,” said Shanmugappa. “Instead, let them give the truckers an option tom pay toll fee annually on the lines of the issuance of national permit for vehicles,” he added. He said the government can collect an annual toll fee of Rs.50,000 per vehicle and distribute it the concessionaires depending on the road usage. “Diesel and toll account for more than 70 % of the operating cost of trucks. While GST must be brought under GST, the toll booths must be abolished,” said another office-bearer of All India Motor Transport Corporation (AIMTC).
Though the truck strike was expected to affect businesses in the Diwali festival season, there was not much of impacts on supply of goods and it was business as usual at APMC yards on Monday. “The strike is not expected to affect the business as goods have arrived in APMC yards from where they are being supplied to interior districts through mini trucks. The strike will have an impact only when it is indefinite,” said Rameshchandra Lahoti, chairman of Wholesale Food Grains and Pulses Traders Association.
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