Commercial vehicle owners in Mizoram have decided to go on an infinite strike from October 23, asking for reduction in fuel prices. The price of petrol has been increased from Rs 93.93 to Rs 99.24 per litre, whereas that of diesel is now Rs 88.02 from Rs 82.63 per lire, from September 1, PTI noted.
The Mizoram government noted on 17 October after a cabinet meeting, that it would not roll back the hike in fuel prices.
In response to this, 11 commercial vehicle owners' associations called for an indefinite strike on Saturday, PTI noted. They had initially decided to go on an indefinite strike from October 14, but did not go ahead with it on the behest of the CM Lalduhoma asked them to wait till the cabinet meeting on October 16, PTI noted.
A statement issued by the Mizoram Commercial Vehicle Union (MCVU) noted that all commercial vehicle owners will remain off the roads for an indefinite period, effective October 23. This is on the back of the state cabinet's decision not to slash diesel and petrol prices.
The union had also accepted the request of the NGO Coordination Committee, to cancel the proposed strike from October 14, as the Chief Minister informed the committee that order hiking fuel prices would be kept in abeyance till the cabinet meeting, the statement noted.
The government hiked VAT on petrol from 5.23% to 10% and on diesel from 16.36% to 18%, PTI noted. Besides this, it also levied a new social and infrastructure services cess of Rs 2 per litre on petrol and diesel, besides an additional Rs 2 per litre, for road maintenance, PTI stated.
The MCVU had demanded that the prices of petrol and diesel be reduced by Rs 5 per litre each. Lalduhoma had said on October 17, that his cabinet had affirmed that prices of petrol and diesel, hiked on September 1, would not be reduced, PTI noted.
The chief minister had noted that in spite of the VAT hike and new cess, the current prices were lower that the pre-Covid period, and the states of Nagaland, Sikkim and Assam, PTI noted.