New Delhi (PTI): Truckers on wednesday launched a nationwide indefinite strike to protest increased highway toll tax and duty structure on diesel that immediately crippled trade and industry and may soon choke food supplies.

Government called the striking truckers' representatives for a fresh round of talks after the first meeting failed to achieve any breakthrough.

Prices of edible items may shoot up in the coming days if a solution is not found early.

The mass protest has already hit food supplies to Kerala, which depends on neighbouring of staple edibles, although transporters maintained supply of essential items like fuel.

All India Motor Transport Congress, the apex body of transporters that claims to represent nearly 4.8 million truck and two million tempo operators, said that the strike would continue till its demands, among others, for abolition of toll tax and service tax on sub-contractors of transport companies were met.

Highways and Road Transport Minister T R Baalu told representatives of AIMTC earlier in the day that there could be no roll back in toll tax rates, which were increased in February, as it was done through an Act of Parliament.

However, officials of the Finance Ministry have offered certain service tax concessions to transporters, but AIMTC President Charan Singh is yet to decide on ending the protest.

Although the strike did not affect arrival of vegetables in the national capital's Azadpur mandi, India's largest wholesale fruits and vegetable market, lakhs of rupees worth highly perishable horticulture and floriculture produces and tea were lying in godowns in Nilgiris and Coimbatore districts in Tamil Nadu for want of transport facility, a report from Coimbatore said.