Aizawl, 1 March (UNI): All commercial vehicles, including city buses and taxis, stayed off the roads in the capital city of Mizoram today hitting commuters hard.
Vehicle owners are protesting against the governments decision to impose lifetime vehicle tax at the rate of six per cent of cost of the vehicle, rotational service for the citys taxis based on the odd-even formula, among others.
Whereas the state government announced that taxis in Aizawl should ply on alternate days with effect from March 1, the taxis defied the order and stayed off the road and staged a protest rally instead.
The state government pressed into operations various departments buses to ferry the commuters that mitigated the transportation burden.
Holding a press conference, Commercial Vehicle Joint Action Committee (CVJAC) said the governments apathy towards their grievances compelled them to go on strike.
We were not totally against the governments decisions. Our appeals to the governments to hold a joint meeting with all commercial vehicles owners were turned down, that left us with no choice than to go on strike, chairman of the committee said.
The government has turned a deaf ear to our repeated appeals to discuss the matters across the table, he said.