Truckers have gone on a nation-wide strike, which started from midnight on Tuesday which has resulted in paralyzing the movement of goods on the road. More than 4 million trucks will keep off the road, form today, as part of the nationwide indefinite strike called by the All India Motor Transport Congress (AIMTC)

The strike started because the tax related demands of the truckers were not acknowledged by the government. The demands included abolition of toll tax and service tax, besides rationalization of duties on diesel.

Gurinder Pal Singh, who represented the All-India Motor Transport Congress, said that the strike would continue till the time government does not arrive at a meaningful conclusion. Singh also said that the apex transporters' body is ready for further dialogue with the government if the ministries involved invite truckers for talks.

On Tuesday, AIMTC officials presented a note of their demands to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and UPA Chairperson Sonia Gandhi. They also presented their list of demands to Finance Ministry, Petroleum Ministry and the Ministry of Roads, Highways and Shipping. Btu the meeting could not come to any result till the last minutes, and the agitated truckers took to the roads.

AIMTC claims the support of all states' transport associations with a combined fleet size of 48, 00,000 trucks.

Meanwhile, Experts say that any interruption in the supply of these commodities may result in a loss of over Rs 1,500 crore to the economy every day.

Though truck owners in some states like West Bengal, Orissa, Karnataka, Jharkhand and Chhattisgarh have declared to stay out of the general strike, it will not help in easing the pressure, said experts. The striking goods transport agencies (GTAs) control over 90 per cent of the total cargo carried over road.

Praveen Khandelwal, the secretary general of the Federation of All India Traders, said: "The strike is going to have an impact on the movement of commodities like food grain, vegetables and other raw materials for trade and industry. But it will take another 3-4 days to assess the exact impact of the strike. We have advised our trade bodies to act wisely and check any undue increase in commodity prices."

The strike if lasts for more than 3-4 days, then there will be pressure since there will be a delay in the arrival of the raw material at the factories and then transporting it to the suppliers.

Over 75 per cent of the total cargo in the country is transported by road. This includes commodities like cement, fertilizers, food grain and steel, general cargo like FMCG products, leather goods and high-value cargo like refrigerators, electronics and other white goods.