PESHAWAR, Feb 20: The Goods Carrier Association has accused the local log area commander of not paying Rs700,000 as transportation charges, which had been promised to the owners of the vehicles at the time of hiring of their vehicles, a year ago.

Speaking at a news conference on Thursday, Mohammad Younas Khan Durrani, President of the Peshawar Goods Carrier Association, said that the commander had hired 160 trucks and had a written agreement with him (the president) that each of the vehicle would be paid Rs1,275 per day.

The vehicles had been hired in January, 2002, and were engaged in transportation of army goods to the areas bordering India, but the commander, allegedly, made payments only to 120 trucks out of the total 160, arguing that the rest of the vehicles would be tested to see whether they fell in the category of big vehicles or not.

Mr Durrani said that at the time of hiring the trucks had been duly checked and approved. A high court bench, reportedly, had also given a verdict against the commander, on Jan 29.

Before the court’s verdict, Mr Durrani said, the commander had told the court on Oct 5, 2002, that he had returned the amount to the treasury and could not pay the amount.