Livelihood of TS lorry drivers at stake

Hyderabad: Telangana state government’s proposal to sanction single permit to lorries to operate between Telangana state and Andhra Pradesh has elicited no response from the latter. The AP government's attitude has caused apprehensions among the lorry owners.

According to the lorry owners, the Andhra Pradesh government has been collecting entry tax (single permit) of Rs 4,700 a month and Rs 1,600 a week from the vehicles entering that state from Telangana.

The lorry owners pointed out that the neighbouring states, except Andhra Pradesh, have been collecting just Rs 5,000 a year for permit. The Transport Department sources said the AP government's approach has led to the lorry owners coughing up between Rs 50,000 and Rs 60,000 a year.

Official sources said the Telangana State government had approached the AP government officials twice but there was no positive outcome.

Telangana lorry owners Association president N Bhaskar Reddy told The Hans India that in all the 29 states in the country there is single permit system and Rs 5,000 per year is charged as tax.

He said the Andhra Pradesh government has been collecting Rs 4,700 a month, which has become a burden for many of the lorry owners as most of them are many owner-cum-drivers.

He said the association members had met Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu and requested for single tax system. The AP chief minister was also convinced of the rationale behind the argument and had asked the officials to resolve the issue.

But, no solution has been found so far though two months has elapsed since they met the AP Chief Minister, said Bhaskar Reddy.

There are over 1.75 lakh vehicles in Telangana and only a few vehicles ply in AP and TS border and the vehicles which are over eight years apply for single permit.

The new vehicles (up to 8 years old) generally prefer take national permit by paying Rs 17,000 a year. Generally, the vehicles in Khammam, Nalgonda travel to AP districts transporting coal, cement, vegetables, etc and collection of huge tax is impacting the livelihood of the lorry drivers, said Bhaskar Reddy.

Official sources said the AP officials are proposing to levy tax at the rate of Rs 8,000 a year. Transport Minister P Mahender Reddy recently said that he would talk to the AP officials on the single permit.

The lorry owners said that the issue would be solved if the two states' Transport Minister discuss the issue across the table.

Meanwhile, the Lorry Owners Association has decided to raise the issue in the upcoming meeting of the southern states in Tamil Nadu. The Telangana members would urge the national union to take up the issue.