Chennai Traders Body to go on one-day strike on Sep 18

The Chennai-Goods Transport Association, affiliated to the All India Motor Transport Congress, would conduct the protest on Tuesday, demanding immediate rollback of the Rs five per litre increase in diesel price, its President P V Subramani said.

"The decision was taken at an emergency meeting held today...Including the VAT collected in diesel (by State government), the price hike will be Rs 6.07 per litre severely affecting us. We will close all our operations on the day," he told reporters here today.

Due to the strike, Rs 1,500 crore worth of business is likely to be affected as more than 6,000 trucks would stop plying, he said.

The association would also present a memorandum to Chief Minister Jayalalithaa requesting her to waive 12.5 per cent VAT collected on diesel.

He said they have also decided to hike the freight charges by minimum of 10 per cent.

The government on Thursday hiked diesel prices by Rs 5.62 per litre and restricted the supply of subsidised cooking gas to six cylinders per household in a year to fetch an additional Rs 20,300 crore.