Tandojam toll plaza: Agri varsity staff toils to cut toll tax

Hyderabad commissioner sets up committee to consider tax exemption proposals.

HYDERABAD:

The Tandojam toll plaza on Hyderabad-Mirpurkhas dual carriageway has become a bone of contention between the administration and the people. The citizens are demanding concessions from the toll tax on their routine intercity movement.

At the forefront are the employees of Sindh Agriculture University demanding tax exemptions similar to that offered to their counterparts in Jamshoro - the staff and students of Mehran University of Engineering & Technology, Liaquat University of Medical & Health Sciences and University of Sindh who do not pay tax at the Hyderabad toll plaza while travelling between Hyderabad and Jamshoro districts.

On Tuesday, the Hyderabad commissioner, Ahmed Bux Narejo, presided over a meeting held at his office to sort-out the differences between the company  that collects tax and the agriculture university staff.

The works and services secretary, the agriculture university’s vice chancellor, the Hyderabad deputy commissioner and Deok Jae’s CEO among other officers concerned were present at the meeting.

Narejo constituted a four-member committee to work out the concessional proposals for toll tax for the academic community of Sindh Agriculture University for an interim period until a final decision by the provincial government. The officers were directed to submit their reports within the shortest possible time.

Narejo said that he would write to the government to revisit the toll agreement and resolve the concessional issues of local and academic institutions either as government subsidy or at the end of company.

The executing company has already exempted 25 buses of the agriculture university from toll tax, but it cannot afford to exempt private vehicles owned by the varsity employees, said Hamid Rasool, the Deok Jae’s CEO. Other private vehicles will also claim similar exemptions and will result in losses up to Rs100 million per year to the company.

The 67-kilometre-long Hyderabad-Mirpurkhas dual carriageway was built under a public-private partnership between the Sindh government and Deok Jae. The highway takes off from Tandojam, passes through the Tando Allahyar district bypass to the Mirpurkhas district.

Published in The Express Tribune, October 25^th, 2012.