Avtar Bhat
-Excelsior/Madan
KATHUA, Nov 15: With the refusal of Excise Department to accept the banned Rs 500 and Rs 1000 currency notes in the absence of any such State Government order, heavy rush is being witnessed at Lakhanpur Toll Post which often results into traffic jams as the passenger buses and other commercial vehicles remained stranded in long queues in paying Toll Tax.
To ease the rush, the authorities have also opened the tax collection counters overhead bridge. However, the bus operators and drivers of various commercial vehicles are put to many hardships in exchanging their old Rs 500 and Rs 1000 notes to pay tax.
As the authorities at Toll Plaza refused to accept the old notes, the drivers park their vehicles on road side visit nearby banks to exchange old currency notes and later pay the tax at Toll Plaza. This way they have to park their vehicles on road side resulting into a huge traffic jam.
The drivers of inter-state buses and commercial vehicles said that they are in a great confusion after the Government ordered that the old currency notes can be accepted at various places including petrol pumps, hospitals, railway stations and Department of Civil Aviation for purchase of tickets why this facility was not kept on Toll Plaza too as they are put to many hardships there.
“Moreover, when National Highway Authority of India (NHAI) has given exemption up to November 18 on its all toll plazas why not it was made applicable by the State Government at Lakhanpur as it was J&K’s toll plaza”?, they asked.
Criticizing the Government, they said knowing fully that there is heavy rush of Mata Vaishno Devi pilgrims and Jhiri mela yatris, the State Government should have taken steps to ease the tax payment at Toll Plaza which it has not done there by adding to the woes of transporters and commuters, they added.
It may be recalled that Jammu Chamber of Commerce and Industries CCI has also taken serious exception to problems being faced by drivers at Lakhanpur Toll Post where they are subjected to lot of harassment and humiliation. The Chamber has taken up the issue with Minister of Industries and Commerce Chander Prakash Ganga also.
However, when contacted Deputy Commissioner Excise Rajesh Kumar Sharma said that there is no exemption in toll for Government or private vehicles at Toll Post Lakhanpur.
He said the Toll Post Lakhanpur is not under the administrative control of NHAI and it belongs to State Government. Hence, the orders issued by NHAI does not apply to this toll post which is Toll Plaza cum Tax Collection Centre.
Admitting that there is a huge rush at Toll Post Lakhanpur, he said that the operators of vehicles, who were demanding the exemption from tax collection, were being conveyed by the staff that this Toll Post does not fall under the jurisdiction of NHAI and the orders of NHAI does not apply on it as it is a State owned Toll Plaza only then, they agreed to pay the toll as usual.
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