GOING towards the industrial estate in Peshawar is a two-hour journey. Not because it is far away, but because of illegal tax collection points on the way and because the road is used by the goods and personnel transport vehicles, going to Bara or Afghanistan.

It is also used by the industrial estate and Karkhano market transport vehicles, transporting shoppers and workers.

On the road, there is a police checkpost and a customs checkpost that besides slowing the traffic are not doing any important work as just a few yards away from the customs check post is the famous Karkhano market dealing in all kinds of non-duty paid goods.

Similarly, there are two other illegal tax collection points, collecting illegal tax from goods transport and public transport vehicles. They charge Rs100 for small cars and vans and Rs200 to Rs500 are charged from the trucks. They also charge taxis, rickshaws and even industrial estate goods transport vehicles.

There is no signboard on this collection office and even on asking them they did not tell me who is collecting this tax. But the locals say that the tax is being collected by a famous politician and an owner of many plazas in Karkhano market of Peshawar.

He has not only constructed an illegal truck parking depot on the property of the industrial estate but made an illegal road access across the railway lines.

The police, railways, industrial estate, custom or any other government official has not dared to stop this illegal activity.

I hope that this situation will come to the notice of the PTI and they will take action to stop these illegal activities and hopefully also reduce the traffic on this road that is caused when cars are stopped by these people to collect their illegal tax.

I hope that the PTI will also put a stop to all illegal tax collected from industrial and other transport vehicles. I also hope that in future if any third party is given a contract to collect tax, the government will ensure to put proper notifications, boards and signs so that common citizens can identify illegal and legal ones.

S. Khan
Peshawar

Published in Dawn, September 16th, 2014