Non-payment denies promised convenience

The new Excise and Taxation office opened in Defence has been diverting vehicle back to the main office.


Nauman Tasleem June 17, 2010

LAHORE: The new Excise and Taxation office opened in Defence to facilitate residents has been diverting vehicle owners back to the main office, owing to software nonpayment.

The electronic queuing system is not working at its optimum since the new branch has failed to clear the software payment.

Imtiaz Bhalli, the Excise and Taxation Officer (ETO), admitted that there was a problem with the ISP and the electronic queuing system.

“The link goes down for a few hours each day and is restored for a couple of hours during which we have to process the maximum number of applications possible. The electronic queuing system is also suffering since there is a payment issue with the parent company.

The matter should be resolved as soon as the payment is cleared”, he said.

The new branch was opened to ease the load on the main office and convenience residents of Cantonment, Defence, Walton, Cavalry Ground, Garden Town and Model Town.

Vehicle owners however have lost their patience waiting in long queues all day long.

For two days now, the Digital Subscriber Line (DSL) link for the office has also been down making it impossible to process applications, submit documents and issue number plates.

“I filed an application at the Defence branch and was told that I would need to go to the main office to obtain my vehicle’s number plate. What is the point of opening a new branch when you’re constantly sent back to the main office?” stated Akhter Ali.

Department officials have stated that the problem is likely to last for at least two more days. They stated that the problem has occurred at the service provider’s end. “We are working on the problem with the help of our ISP. The system should be online in a day or two”, stated Younis Javed, a programmer at the Defence office.

Published in the Express Tribune, June 17th, 2010.

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