Thousands of truckers stayed off the roads for the fourth day on Tuesday to protest levy of a new tax, disrupting movement of goods and food-items that pushed the prices upwards.
All India Motor Transport Congress, the country's largest truck union with nearly three million vehicles, has called the strike to protest against the proposed 10 per cent service tax on freight booking agents.
"The strike is total in all parts of the country. There is no loading or unloading of goods taking place anywhere," AIMTC president B N Dhumal claimed.
The truckers, meanwhile, claimed that supply of essential commodities like milk and vegetables have not been affected and it would not be disturbed for another two days.
Movement of cargo has been badly affected, Dhumal said, adding, "dock operations have come to a standstill."
AIMTC general secretary J M Saksena said the strike was costing the transport industry Rs 500 crore (Rs 5 billion) a day.
"Raw materials are not reaching factories and finished goods are not reaching shops," he said.
Dhumal said the levy of service tax would have a cascading effect on prices as transportation is an integral part of the cost.
"We had two rounds of talks with revenue secretary on Monday without any fruitful results. Therefore henceforth we will only meet the finance secretary or the finance minister," he said.
The strike is feared to fuel the country's wholesale price inflation that hit a three-and-half year high of 7.96 per cent.
A nine-day truckers' strike in April last year had crippled deliveries and slowed quarterly industrial growth to 4.9 per cent compared to over 6 per cent in the first three months of the year.
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