Mumbai, Apr 1 (IANS): Around 10,000 trucks in Maharashtra have stopped plying to south Indian states in support of the strike by truckers there against the sharp increase in third-party insurance premium.

Maharashtra State Truck/Tempo/Tanker/Bus Transporters Confederation Senior Vice-President Raman Khosla told IANS: "We are fully in support of our brethren on strike and so we are not sending any vehicles from here to cross over to the southern states. The trucks daily carry all types of cargo, ranging from foods, fruits, vegetables, industrial good, general and consumer goods for the markets there."

Trucks from other states which are not on strike come upto the Maharashtra border with their cargo and return without exiting to the southern states with the support of all truckers unions and associations, he added.

Around 22 lakh trucks have stayed off the road in Karnataka, Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh, Telangana and Puducherry since Thursday.