COIMBATORE: Protesting the increase in quarterly tax for heavy vehicles in Tamil Nadu, lorry owners have announced a strike on November 9.

“Around 6.5 lakh lorries and 20 lakh other vehicles including load carriers will stay off the road across the state to highlight our demand. Lorry owners will incur a loss of Rs 30 crore and several crore worth of goods will stagnate due to the strike. The quarterly tax has been increased by 40 per cent,” said C Dhanraj, president of the State Lorry Owners Federation.

The lorry associations have announced protest after their plea to Transport Minister SS Sivasankar last week failed to evoke any response. The lorry owners threatened to intensify their stir by joining the All India Motor Transport Congress, which has announced a strike from November 25 on toll gate issue.