[blackwasp]

Truck drivers in Brazil have been protesting against rising fuel costs since one week. While the president of the country has announced measures to resolve the matter, the protest has continued into the 8th day.

The concessions announced include a tax cut on fuel prices for 60 days, reduced tolls for empty trucks and guaranteed freight rates. While the Brazil Truck Drivers Association, which claims to represent 6 lakh drivers has announced that the strike is over, the truck drivers have not yet resumed work.

Unhappy over the rising fuel costs as well as the high toll rates and lower freight revenues, truck drivers have parked their vehicles on the highways, blocking traffic and bringing the country to a halt. Media reports indicate that the protest demonstrations took place in 25 states, including the cities of Brasilia and Sao Paulo. School bus drivers and motorcycle couriers joined the protest in Sao Paulo.

A meeting with the Union leaders and the authorities last week did not result in a resolution of the problem and the roadblocks continued over the weekend. Oil workers have announced that they will go on strike as well this week.

For the past week, the country has been struggling with lack of essentials, including vegetables, fruits, meat and medicines. Schools have been shut down and there are long queues at fuel pumps. Reports have also indicated wastage of over 300 million litres of milk, culling of 64 million poultry and more.

Fuel prices have gone up since April 2018. Diesel, which was retailing at Rs. 61.70 per litre on April 2, has gone up to Rs. 68.82. Petrol prices hovering around the Rs. 76 mark in early April have gone up to Rs. 80.57 in Brazil.



Source - The Guardian

Link to the Team-BHP News

[aravind.anand]

Time to take a leaf from Brazil's book, and stage similar protests in our country to include petroleum under GST, or at least reduce the tax burden which is the single largest contributor to today's astronomical fuel prices.

It is quite shocking that Brazil, even with additional Ethanol content has fuel prices very similar to ours. Is it the 'chalta hai' attitude of ours, that is being taken for a ride then?

My T-BHP signature makes more and more sense with each passing day

[GTO]

Fuel in India is more expensive and no one is on strike here .

Been reading about it and it did affect everyday life. Brazil is more dependent on trucks than even India as it doesn't have a solid railway system to transport goods.

What's remarkable though is there has been no violence reported (yet).

[autospeaker]

Originally Posted by GTO

Fuel in India is more expensive and no one is on strike here .

Been reading about it and it did affect everyday life. Brazil is more dependent on trucks than even India as it doesn't have a solid railway system to transport goods.

What's remarkable though is there has been no violence reported (yet).

I strongly feel the current situation is also an effect of a huge scam/controversy of Petrobras, in which Dilma was involved. Though she was impeached eventually, the situation has never gone better.

Have lived in Brasilia for a year, I know how the life there is. Not mention the first hand experience we had, of these protests. Brazil is having a disturbed environment since early 2013 and has a telling effect both on economy and the life of brazilians.

Sure that the fuel price is high in India, but not more than a litre of bottled drinking water. In Brasila at least, a litre of fuel would cost around 3 reals whereas a litre of sweet water is 4 reals ( in 2013-14 )! So, India is better at least in this aspect.

Of course the public transport/railway network is as good/weak as India's. Hence the dependency on trucks.

Originally Posted by aravind.anand

Time to take a leaf from Brazil's book, and stage similar protests in our country

OT : Please don't ever wish so. The protests were so intense, my wife and I were scared to death even inside our apartments. The tear gas from the police's gun from the President's palace was so strong that we could feel our eyes burn - 2 km from the actual place. Police making the protesters kneel down hands behind their head with a rifle pointing at them, was a scary sight. :(

[SmartCat]

Low freight revenues implies an oversupply of trucks. That's why truckers there are not able to pass on the rise in fuel/toll costs to their customers. The problem will be fixed automatically when a few truckers go out of business - sad (for them) but true.