The operators also decided to pressurise the Telangana government to reduce the road tax by more than half.
The Telangana State Cabs and Bus Operators Association (TSCBOA) has decided to intensify its protest against the imposition of a border tax on contract carriage vehicles by the government of Andhra Pradesh.
In their meeting held at GPL Garden near Karman Ghat on Saturday, the bus operators also decided to pressurise the Telangana government to reduce the road tax by more than half.
Speaking to media persons after the Association's meeting, TSCBOA president Syed Nizamuddin said that the bus operators would hold protest meetings in different parts of the city for a month before taking the agitation to the next level.
Beginning May 9, the protest meetings would be held on every Saturday at Afzalgunj, Vidya Nagar, Kukatpally and Hitech City, he said.
"If both the AP and Telangana governments remain inert to our demands, then we will approach Governor E S L Narasimhan seeking his intervention to resolve the issue. If all our efforts prove futile, then the bus operators will not pay road tax for the next quarter," announced Syed Nizamuddin.
Stating that the Telangana bus operators are being forced to pay a border tax of Rs 330 per seat or nearly Rs 8,000 for a 22-seater bus per single trip to the AP government, he said that the entire industry would collapse if this continued for a few more months.
The TSCBOA President said that the Telangana government too must reduce the road tax as the present slab of Rs 893 per seat was fixed during the erstwhile united Andhra Pradesh.
"Rs 893 per seat was meant for all 23 districts. With Telangana being a separate state, the state government should reduce it proportionately," he demanded.
Syed Nizamuddin also informed that the TSCBOA had made separate representations to the Chief Ministers of Andhra Pradesh and Telangana, N Chandrababu Naidu and K Chandrashekar Rao respectively, requesting them to consider the demands of bus operators.
"Besides causing heavy losses to the bus operators of Telangana, the Border Tax will smash the tourism sector of Andhra Pradesh as everyday nearly 5,000 buses are operated to destinations like Tirupati, Srisailam, Sri Kalahasti, Vijayawada and Mantralayam. Likewise, the continuation of the road tax of Rs 893 per seat will put the very survival of the bus operators at stake," he said.
Earlier in the meeting, the bus operators complained of heavy losses that each of them had been incurring due to the new border tax by the AP government and the old road tax by the Telangana government. A few of them even claimed that they had paid taxes for the last quarter ended March 31, 2015, by borrowing money at high interest rates.
TSCBOA leaders and major operators including Nabeel Hussain, Sanjeev Reddy, Venkatesh Goud, Srinivas Yadav, Md Maozam and others addressed the meeting. (INN)