Hyderabad: The Telangana Lorry Owners Association renewed its long-standing demand for a single permit system for vehicles crossing into Andhra Pradesh, and those bound from the neighbouring Telugu state.
For nine-and-a-half years, the Telugu-speaking states have failed to address this issue, lorry owners said.
On average, lorry owners pay around `2,000 per trip to enter AP and return. Truckers from AP pay the Telangana government about `1,200 per trip. In contrast, single permits for Tamil Nadu, Odisha, Karnataka, Chhattisgarh and Maharashtra are priced at `6,000 per year.
The Telangana Lorry Owners Association is advocating for a similar arrangement with Andhra Pradesh.
According to data from 2022-23, 20,291 vehicles had made 83,193 trips to Andhra Pradesh, resulting in Telangana lorry owners paying `13.5 crore annually to the AP government as permit fee.
The lorry owners are frustrated over the lack of attention given to the issue by the previous BRS government. With recent changes in the governments of both Telugu states, the Telangana transport department has initiated steps to discuss the matter with its AP counterpart.
Manchireddy Rajender Reddy, president of the Telangana Lorry Owners Association, recalled that in 2019, during the TD government under N. Chandrababu Naidu in AP, the single permit was nearly finalised but was left unsigned due to the change in government.
Rajender Reddy the Congress government and transport minister Ponnam Prabhakar to expedite the process, noting that Nirab Prasad Kumar, who was transport principal secretary at that time, is now the chief Secretary under the TD government in AP and is well-positioned to finalise the agreement.
