(Updates with estimated cost to industry para 3)
NEW DELHI, April 21 (Reuters) - Striking Indian truckers pledged on Monday to keep up their week-old protest that has paralysed freight movement nationwide until the government meets their demands for stable fuel prices and fewer levies.
More than 200 truckers, masks over their mouths, demonstrated silently near parliament to draw attention to their calls for a halt to frequent fuel price hikes, immunity from a planned Value Added Tax, an end to toll fees and minimum freight rates.
Leading business lobby FICCI said in a statement that the strike was costing Indian wholesalers, retailers and industry 15 billion rupees ($317 million) a day.
Gajendra Sharma, an official of the All India Motor Transport Congress (AIMTC), told Reuters the transport ministry had said it was willing to resume talks with the truckers but wanted them to end their strike first. "We've rejected the invitation as it had pre-conditions," he said. "We won't agree to any pre-conditions."
He said the AIMTC, India's largest truckers' union with 2.7 million vehicles, wanted the government to reconsider its stand.
Government authorities were not available for comment. The AIMTC and government held brief talks last week but made no breakthrough.
Prices of fruit and vegetables, now dependent on smaller vehicles for delivery, have soared by up to 25 percent in some places.
Sushil Jiwarajka, FICCI's western regional head, said industries such as steel, textiles and readymade garments had been severely hit. Industries were running out of raw materials and finished goods were piling up.
The strike has also sharply slowed wheat and rice exports as many ports have nearly halted operations. "We've about 11 vessels waiting for cargo," said an official at Kandla port, one of India's busiest. "Since there's no evacuation of cargo from the port, the warehouse area is full," he said.
Only Kandla's oil jetties were working on Monday and even with them, "we'll shortly face problems as we're saturating the storage tanks," the official added.
Cement makers said supplies would be strained if the strike lasted several more days. "Retail prices are already moving up," said a spokesman for Associated Cement Companies , the industry leader, giving no details. (Additional reporting by Maria Abraham, Denny Thomas and Atul Prakash in BOMBAY, Thomas Kutty Abraham in AHMEDABAD and Kamil Zaheer in CALCUTTA) ($1=47.26 rupees)