RAWALPINDI: The Rawalpindi Municipal Corporation (RMC) has decided not to charge loading vehicles an entry fee in city areas and bazaars.

The vehicles were supposed to pay Rs400 for entering bazaars and roads in the city from July 1.

A senior official of the RMC said it was not possible for the civic body to impose the fee as the general elections were approaching. He said RMC members belonging to the ruling PML-N did not want to create resentment among the local traders by implementing the decision.

He said a meeting of traders and the RMC elected members was held last week in which the former were assured that the decision to levy the fee on loading vehicles would not be implemented. When contacted, Anjuman-i-Tajiran spokesman Naveed Kanwal said traders and shopkeepers were against the entry fee on loading vehicles.

He said transport charges had already gone up due to the surge in petroleum prices and the new tax would create further problems for the traders to do business in the city.

Published in Dawn, May 26th, 2018