Thank god the congestion on all Metro roads will be off from today onwards if the truckers strike go on indefinite strike. ( Pun intended ) The demands of the truckers being withdrawl of service tax ( 12.5%), withdrawl of diesel hike, abolition of toll tax, non inclusion of transport in service sector nett, and abolition of speed governors.

Truckers have been generating lot of black money in earlier days. Unaccounted goods were transported, sand was ferried in overloaded trucks, illegal mining is still rampant, etc. The government has been trying to tame the powerful truckers lobby for a long long time. In the bargain tax officials pocket a large sum of money to let them off the hook. In this circumstances the finance ministry should go for step by step approach in introducing taxes. The service tax should 1% so that the truckers and the industries would not mind shelling out. Then gradually it can be increased on .5% basis. The introduction of higher incidence % of taxation is obviously going to fuel inflation and make avenues for tax officials to pocket money.

Overloading of trucks by sand and mining industry is another bane. Huge amounts of black money is being generated. They are also creating infrastructure problem of roads being destroyed. Instead of loading 5 tonnes if a truck is carrying 15 tonnes obviously straining the road network. Further the trucks become accident prone. How do we regulate this issue. Further tarpaulins should be made madatory otherwise trucks should be siezed by RTO so that there is no spillage of dust or iron particles on the road causing broncho and lung problems.

Speed governors need not be introduced if lane discipline of truckers is made mandatory. Trucks should use only the left side of the road trucks only for turning should be allowed to come to the centre. Time zone restrictions for entry of trucks into the city should be introduced. Urgent need for parking bays of trucks is necessary to control their movement. It will provide a security check to avoid transportation of RDX too inadvertently.

Overall the govt needs to have a fresh look at the Truckers demand at the same time regulating them in a desired manner to smother inflation, control pollution and enhance productivity.