PESHAWAR: The local goods transporters have warned they would observe a wheel-jam strike across the province if the additional tax collection at Hayatabad toll plaza on Ring Road isn’t withdrawn.
All Sarhad Goods Transport and Adda Owners Federation Khyber Pakhtunkhwa President Haji Liaquat Ali Khan told reporters at the Peshawar Press Club here that the Peshawar Development Authority (PDA) had imposed levy on trucks carrying both food and non-food consignments while using Hayatabad toll plaza, a move rejected by transporters outright. He said scores of vehicles carrying goods had to use the toll plaza many times a day so subjecting them to additional levy payment was unjustified.
Haji Liaquat said every small vehicle paid Rs110 and truck and trailer from Rs300 to Rs500. He said the tax should be imposed on the vehicles crossing the Afghan border but the PDA had imposed it on local transport vehicles as well and that, too, against a judgment of the Peshawar High Court in that respect.
The transporter leader said tax was also collected from transport vehicles plying between Peshawar Adda and Hayatabad by the local government departments on four different toll plazas in addition to the police penalties at very short distances.
