Lorry owners and agents on Friday threatened to launch a transport strike if the state government doesn’t roll back the hike in fee for fitness certificates and registration of vehicles aged more than 15 years.
At a press conference here on Friday, the Federation of Karnataka State Lorry Owners and Agents Association said the decision to hike the fees aimed at encouraging the scrapping of vehicles older than 15 years, was flawed.
“The high amount of fee, instead of nudging the owners to scrap vehicles, will only lead to burdening of the sector, especially those who own one or two vehicles. Old vehicles are not causing the pollution as is proven by the mandatory pollution under control (PUC) certificate every two months,” said G R Shanmugappa, president of the federation.
The federation also appealed to the state government to reduce the fuel prices. “It is true that the diesel price in Karnataka is lower compared with prices in other states. However, over the last 15 days, there has been a steep increase, throwing the transport sector off balance. This is happening at a time when the transport charges have remained the same,” it stated.
In a release, the federation alleged that the border check-posts have been harassing transporters and the same should be abolished. “All the services available in the check-posts have been shifted to online platforms. In such a situation, there is no need for the check-posts,” he added.
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