Delhi invites transport union for talks

The government officials said Finance Minister Palaniappan Chidambaram invited transport union leaders for the talks as the truckers warned they were prepared to continue the strike for three months to force New Delhi to yield to their demands.

B. N. Dhumal, president of the All India Motor Transport Congress (AIMTC), India's largest transport union, also warned against coercive measures to break the strike, which entered its seventh day yesterday.

"If our demand is not met immediately, we are willing to continue |his strike for three months," said Dhumal following the arrest of a regional transport union leader affiliated to the AIMTC, which has three million truck owners on its books.

The union argues that it is not feasible for haulers personally to collect a 10 percent service tax from booking agents, suppliers or customers in line with guidelines unveiled in the national budget for the 2004-2005 fiscal year.

It also argues the flat rate of tax will fuel inflation and hit the transport sector.

The Press Trust of India, meanwhile, said the week-old strike had pushed up prices of goods particularly perishable commodities by as much as 30 percent, adding the government had set up an agency to monitor the situation.

The strike has also affected industrial production and movement of finished goods from factories to the market, transport ministry officials said.