Truckers protest against high weighbridge tax

HYDERABAD:

The transporters, supplying construction materials like grit, sand and crushed stones, blocked Hyderabad-Mirpurkhas highway in protest on Tuesday, complaining that they are being extorted undue taxes at the toll plaza.

According to the president of transporters association Mehrab Khan Khoso, the transporters are forded to pay Rs15,000 as toll tax and Rs5,000 against weight of the vehicle at the highway toll plaza.

"This is just a 50-kilometers stretch of a road where we are compelled to pay Rs5,000 for kaanta and Rs1,500 for toll tax but the same taxes are not charged from us on M9 motorway which is far longer and wider than this road," he said while talking to The Express Tribune.

He said, his association approached Hyderabad commissioner and deputy commissioner repeatedly and urged them to settle the issue but they did not respond.

He further said that on Tuesday morning the truckers gathered near the toll plaza in Hyderabad around 10am. They later gave time till 4pm to the authorities in Hyderabad before blocking the road. Khoso said the protest will end only when the authorities accept their demands.