NAMAKKAL: With major oil companies contemplating a hike in diesel prices, lorry owners have warned of a nationwide strike if there was such a move.Tamil Nadu Lorry Owners Association president K Nallathampi told journalists here on Thursday that a decision to this effect was taken at the executive committee meeting of the All India Motor Congress, held recently in the national capital.In July 2008, when crude oil was worth $132.47 in the international market, a litre of diesel was sold at `37.57 in Tamil Nadu. Now, even after the crude oil prices have come down to $97 per barrel, a litre is being sold at `40.63 in the State. According to Nallathampi, the oil majors pretended to have incurred huge losses, though they were running very profitably and cited this as a ‘lame’ reason to justify the price hike. If the association’s plea fell on deaf ears, the lorry owners would launch a nationwide strike, he warned. The price of diesel was last hiked by `2 per litre in June last year. Meanwhile, the move by insurance companies to increase third party premium was stayed by the Madras High Court, thereby giving relief to thousands of lorry owners, he noted. Further, he said that lorry owners did not have to pay the new rate of premium, thanks to the stay ordered by the court. The premium was hiked to `11,800 per annum from the earlier rate of `6, 190.The Lorry Owners Association president also announced that they would boycott a specific tyre brand as that company was allegedly behind the hike. Nallathampi warned that all other companies would face a boycott if the hike was not withdrawn. The companies were set a 10-day deadline to withdraw any such move, Nallathampi added.
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