By IANS,
Hyderabad : Owners of cab taxis and private buses Friday called off their two-day long strike after the state government assured it would look into their demand for withdrawal of value added tax (VAT).
More than 25,000 cabs and private buses were off the roads since Thursday, causing inconvenience to commuters, especially employees of the information technology companies, call centres and air travellers.
After talks with representatives of the Greater Hyderabad Cabs and Bus Operators’ Association (GHCBOA), Minister for Commercial Taxes K. Ramakrishna announced that the government would waive off the VAT arrears since 2003.
He said the issue of imposing VAT would be sorted out within a month. He announced a committee would be constituted to look into the issue and submit a report in two days.
Earlier in the day, the minister came down heavily on the association for its unilateral action in going on strike without holding talks with the concerned officials.
The strike had badly hit the IT and BPO companies, which hire cabs to pick and drop employees. The companies have about 100,000 employees.
Due to the strike, the attendance in the companies had come down by 50 percent. Some companies had even declared holiday Friday.