0
GUJRANWALA, April 25: The Markazi Anjuman Tajran and other trade organizations and citizen councils have resented against the excise and taxation department for issuing property tax notices and the harassment created by excise inspectors.
The traders threatened that they would go on shutter-down strike for indefinite period if excise inspectors continued harassment.
The resentment was expressed by speakers in an emergent meeting held here on Friday with Markazi Anjuman Tajran president Dr Mahmood Ahmad in the chair.
The speakers said the Excise and Taxation Department were issuing notices to defaulters for the payment of many-fold property tax along with heavy fines after dividing them into A and B categories in Peoples Colony and other localities.
They said the excise and taxation director had assured the traders during a recent meeting that they would be taken into confidence before issuing notices. He had also admitted that city traders fell in D category, they claimed.
The excise inspectors, they alleged, were receiving heavy bribe from defaulters with the connivance of high-ups of the Excise and Taxation Department.
They said some petitioners had moved the Lahore High Court against the new property tax system while hearing was fixed for May 6, but the taxes were still being recovered which was unjustified.
ARREST WARRANTS: The arrest warrants for 1,300 defaulters of property tax, including an ex-MNA and two Nazims, were issued here on Friday.
About a dozen mobile teams were formed for the arrest of defaulters.
According to the Excise and Taxation Department, at least Rs70 million were pending with defaulters, including ex-MNA Chaudhry Jalil Ahmad and two UC Nazims Zafar Iqbal and Saleem Ahmad.
The defaulters which also included noted industrialists and cinema owners had not cleared their outstanding dues of property tax and recreation tax for the last couple of years despite repeated notices.
A spokesman of Excise and Taxation said that around 700 defaulters were in the city, 110 in Wazirabad, 225 in Kamoki, 50 in Qila Dedar Singh and 200 in Gakkhar town. He said mobile teams comprising recovery tehsildars had been constituted for their arrest and the recovery of outstanding dues.
He said three EDOs Syed Ozair Shah, Muhammad Waris and Muhammad Iqbal had been inducted to monitor the recovery campaign throughout the district.
NO-CONFIDENCE: A no-confidence motion has been passed against a union council Naib Nazim which was forwarded to the Election Commission by Nazim here on Friday.
Union Council’s No 85/49 general councillor Ramzan Bhatti tabled a no-confidence motion against Naib Nazim Idrees Warraich due to his involvement in corruption, misuse of power and other unconstitutional activities while another general councillor Mehr Muhammad Arshad verified it.
The UC Nazim Chaudhry Faizullah Dogar convened an emergent meeting of the union council and arranged voting in which 18 members voted in favour of no-confidence motion against the Naib Nazim.
HANDCUFFED: A local banking court judge on Friday got handcuffed an industry director and ordered auctioning the properties of three other defaulters.
The judge had issued arrest warrants for surgical instrument industry director Aqil Shahzad a few days ago.
Similarly, Allah Ditta, Shahbaz and Iqbal had borrowed Rs6 million collectively from NBP’s Sialkot branch.
SPORTS COMPLEX: A sports complex will be built with an expenditure of Rs20 million at Quaid-i-Azam Divisional Public School on GT Road where facilities of international standard will be available to sportsmen.
This was stated by district coordination officer Iftikhar Ahmad while speaking at a meeting here on Friday.
The meeting was told that sports complex would be completed within 10 months. Earlier, the DCO laid the foundation stone of the sports complex.
School principal Syed Ansar Ali, Gujranwala BISE chairman Prof Dr Muhammad Aslam Ghauri, community development EDO Khawaja Farooq Haider, district officer (revenue) Najam Ahmad Shah and other senior officers were also present on the occasion.
