Kochi: Prices of vegetables, which have already escalated in Kerala, are likely to shoot up further with the truck and lorry owners in the state going on an indefinite strike from Monday midnight.

Goods carriers, including over 75,000 trucks, will go off the roads in Kerala as part of the strike, demanding a rollback of a steep hike in the vehicle tax effected from this month.

All the goods carriers — including container lorries, trucks, tanker lorries, mini-lorries, goods autorickshaws, tourist buses and taxis — will not operate and the movement of goods and passengers will come to a standstill, according to the leaders of the workers' coordination committee.

The trade unions of all the major parties, including the Congress and the Left Democratic Front, have jointly given the call for the stir, say coordination committee leaders Elamaram Kareem (CITU) and P M Mohammed Ali (Lorry Owners' Federation).

Their counterparts in other states have also agreed not to operate trucks into Kerala, thus bringing to halt the import of goods. The leaders, comparing the tax structure in other southern States, claim that the nearly 50-per cent hike has pushed about 5 lakh employees into crisis.

In the meantime, Food and Civil Supplies Minister G Karthikeyan convened a meeting of top officials of the Food and Civil Supplies Departments to ensure adequate supply of essential commodities. The meet decided to supply vegetables through all the outlets of the Civil Supplies Corporation.

The vehicles of the corporation will be used for transporting vegetables and commodities. The meeting evaluated that the Maveli stores have adequate stock of essential commodities to meet the demand for the next two months.

The Kerala State Horticultural Products Development Corporation, which runs the Haritha vegetable outlets, has decided to stock adequate quantity of the vegetables to meet the demand for few days in advance.