The Hindu : Front Page : Fuel price hike: Freight charges set to shoot up

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Sunday, Jun 26, 2011
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Fuel price hike: Freight charges set to shoot up

M.K. Ananth

The retail price of diesel has increased by 10.9 per cent. The cost of the fuel has almost tripled in 12 years

Namakkal: Truck operators said that freight charges were bound to shoot up as the price of diesel has been hiked to Rs. 44.27, the second major increase in the country since Independence.

The retail price of the fuel has been increased by Rs. 3.31 from Rs. 40.63 – an increase by 10.9 per cent.

Previous hike

President of the State Federation of Lorry Owners Associations in Tamil Nadu K. Nallathambi told The Hindu that the previous highest hike was when the price per litre was increased by Rs. 3.98 in October 6, 1999, from Rs. 11.62 to Rs. to Rs. 15.60.

Going by that price, the cost of diesel has almost tripled in 12 years, he lamented.

Tamil Nadu operated the second highest number of heavy goods carriers in the country – nearly 2.75 lakh vehicles – next only to Maharashtra, he said.

Mr. Nallathambi added that the hike would not only affect truck operations and lakhs of employees such as drivers, cleaners and load men, dependent on the industry for a living, but also the common man and the business community.

“We have already conveyed our opposition to the Union Government and have asked them to revoke it,” Mr Nallathambi said.

Unreasonable

“We felt that the hike was unreasonable as the international price of crude oil had dropped substantially to US $ 97 per barrel,” the president said.

He substantiated the claim by saying that the price of diesel was only Rs. 37.57 per litre in June 2008 when the cost of crude oil was riding US $ 132.47 a barrel.

Decision

A decision on whether to go on a nation-wide strike or chart future course of action would be taken at the meeting convened by the All India Motor Transport Congress at Delhi on Monday, he added.

“Meanwhile, we have appealed to the State government to waive the sales tax of 21.43 per cent for the current hike so that the price of fuel may be brought down by around 75 paise per litre,” he added.

Revised tariff

Mr. Nallathambi said that a revised freight tariff would be released after discussions with the association members on Sunday.

Truck operators also felt that the diesel price hike would also bring brought about an increase in their financial burden in the form of increasein toll fees on national highways and price of tyres.

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