Badal appeals Centre to accept truckers demand

People are already hit by the rising prices due to various reasons, including recent hike in petroleum product prices, and the strike by the truckers would further aggravate the situation for the common man, he told reporters here.     

"I appeal to the Centre to accept the truckers' demands, which are genuine, so that there is no further price rise," the Chief Minister said and also appealed to the truckers to take steps to ensure that the common man is not hit further.     

Badal said that the demands of the truckers on service tax, toll on national highways and diesel price hike came under the purview of the Centre, which should take immediate steps to end the countrywide strike.     

Answering a question on abolition of toll charges on some state highways, the Chief Minister said the previous Congress government headed by Amarinder Singh imposed these. "If we terminate the agreements with the BOT operators, who constructed the state highways, we would have to pay huge amounts as penalty," he added.