Andhra Pradesh - Vijayawada   

Lorry owners demand withdrawal of GOs

VIJAYAWADA: The Andhra Pradesh Lorry Owners’ Association (APLOA), a State-level body for various lorry owners’ associations, has demanded that the Government should cancel GOs 240 and 241 in the interests of the transport sector and enable a fair deal to lorry owners on a par with their counterparts in the neighbouring Tamil Nadu and Karnataka.

The APLOA leaders contend that the two GOs impose unbearable additional burden on the already struggling members of their associations across the State, in view of increasing competition and enhanced costs.

While GO 240 refers to enhancement of penalties of above 100 per cent with regard to various tax payments, GO 241 involves increasing challan fees in the range of 100 to 1000 per cent, the leaders say.

APLOA general secretary Y.V. Eeswara Rao demands that the Government cancel the two GOs and provide relief to thousands of lorry owners by restoring the previous structure of penalties and challan fees.

He deplores GO 240, which, he says, indicates a rise in penalty for late pollution certificates from Rs. 600 to Rs. 2,000. Penalties in other aspects are very much on the higher side, which will hurt lorry owners badly, he says.

Addressing a press conference here on Tuesday, Mr. Eeswara Rao said the quarterly tax on transport vehicles was high when compared to the taxes currently prevalent in Tamil Nadu and Karnataka. Also, there were no user charges in the neighbouring States, while lorry owners had to pay these charges in the State. Because of these additional costs, the lorry owners in the State were denied a level-playing field with their counterparts in other States, he added.

Mr. Rao said due to lack of equal opportunities, a lorry owner in the State was paying nearly Rs. 40,000 per vehicle annually in excess of what was being paid by his counterparts in the neighbouring States. He wanted the Government to bear this in mind and avoid imposing additional burden on the lorry owners.

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