LDA, town admin at odds over tax collection

Although the country is in dire need of taxes, a dispute has emerged between the Lyari Development Authority (LDA) and Maripur Town’s administration, regarding the collection of taxes, which is adversely impacting businesses based in the area.

Recently, the administration of Maripur Town claimed that it has the jurisdiction to collect right of way charges from development agencies in the popular Hawke’s Bay area; and to this end attempted to collect right of way charges from many businesses operating in the area, including K-Electric. However, when LDA officials caught wind of the town administration’s plans, they fiercely opposed the town’s apparent jurisdiction to collect taxes, and initiated an advertisement campaign against the town administration.

The advertisement campaign asserted that Hawke’s Bay Scheme 42 was entirely under the administrative control of the LDA and had nothing to do with Maripur Town; thus, only the LDA had the authority to collect charges for road cutting, material disposal, generator repair, and other tasks in Hawke’s Bay Scheme 42.

In this regard, Executive Engineer, Javed Qamar, of DMC Keamari, informed the Express Tribune that the Deputy Commissioner Keamari had declared the 3 union councils of Hawke’s Bay: Moach, Gabo Pat, and Lal Bakhar, as a part of Keamari in 2021. “Therefore, LDA is illegally collecting charges within the limits of these 3 union councils,” asserted Qamar.

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However, LDA’s Executive Engineer, Agha Nafees, disagrees. “The LDA is the only legal owner of the entirety of Hawke’s Bay; no other organisation has any jurisdiction over it. The Maripur Town administration had started collecting charges illegally from the establishments working here,” quipped Nafees.

With the LDA and Maripur Town administration at loggerheads, businesses based in the area are confused as to whether they will end up paying tax to two separate bodies. Muhammad Rizwan, a person associated with the garment business in the area, told the Express Tribune that his company was already suffering due to the economic downturn, and therefore could not pay any more tax. “The authorities need to decide who will collect tax because there is no way businessmen in the area, including myself, will pay any more tax,” protested Rizwan.

Agreeing with Rizwan, Muhammad Ramzan, a wood trader, said that businessmen had anticipated that the new local bodies would help them with their sewage, water, and energy issues, but instead of addressing such issues, the town administration was busy levying further taxes. Like Rizwan, Ramzan refused to pay any further taxes and suggested that the two bodies, the LDA and the town administration, sort out their differences without hurting the pockets of businessmen.

Published in The Express Tribune, January 13^th, 2024.