GUJRAT: The Punjab government held its decision of levying toll tax on at least 13 dual carriageways in abeyance on Tuesday within 24 hours of imposing the tax through a notification.

A strong reaction from the public has forced the provincial government to revisit its earlier decision.

The Punjab Communication and Works Department had moved a summary to the chief minister on Dec 6, 2018 for levy of the toll tax on at least 13 dual carriageways to earn revenue of about Rs734bn per annum.

The official sources say following the approval of the CM, the C&W dept had issued a notification on Monday (April 29), directing the executive engineers in the districts concerned to immediately start imposition of Rs30 toll on every vehicle on 13 roads.

Strong protest forces govt to take back decision within 24 hours

The roads where toll tax was imposed were Gujranwala-Sialkot road, Wazirabad-Sialkot-Kashmir road, Gujrat-Sargodha road (Shaheen Chowk), Gujrat-Sargodha road (Mandi Bahauddin/Head Faqirian), Kasur-Depalpur road (Khudian Khas), Muridke-Narowal road, Lahore-Jaranwala-Faisalabad road (Sheikhupura/Burj Attari), Lahore-Jaranwala-Faisalabad road (Nankana Sahib/Mor Khunda), Sahiwal-Arifwala road, Sahiwal-Pakpattan road, Depalpur-Kasur road, Chichawatni-Burewala road and Bahawalpur-Hasilpur-Chishtian road.

The Punjab government’s C&W dept, through another notification, dated April 30 held the process of toll collection in abeyance till reconsideration by the standing committee of the cabinet on finance and development that had actually approved the plan to levy toll as resource mobilisation.

Official sources say the lawmakers, including those belonging to the ruling coalition too, opposed the imposition of the toll.

Though initially the C&W dept had decided to collect the toll through its own staff at these locations and with the start of new fiscal year in July 2019, the toll collection had to be done by the private companies who would have been given the contracts through auction.

In Gujrat city’s Shaheen Chowk area, the local highways dept started collection of Rs30 toll from the vehicles by Tuesday morning, prompting an outrage by the locals of Kunjah, Gujrat, Mungowal, Mandi Bahauddin and the adjoining rural areas as the people started lodging protests at the site.

Some delegations of the traders and the ruling coalition, including the PTI and PML Q’s local leadership, approached the party lawmakers as well as the Gujrat district administration and expressed their reservations over the fresh levy.

At this, Gujrat Deputy Commissioner Dr Khurram Shahzad immediately stopped the local highways dept from the collection the new tax until further decision as earlier the local highways dept had sought the deployment of the police force for security of toll collection after the people started reacting against the levy.

The Shaheen Chowk at Gujrat-Sargodha road is located in the city and is been just six kilometers away from the town Kunjah. The residents of both these towns commute between both the cities many times in the day and the establishment of the toll plaza at this site means that commuting between both these towns would cost much for them.

The administrations of the respective districts have also expressed their reservations on the immediate levy of the toll without taking the deputy commissioners and district police officers into confidence.

Published in Dawn, May 1st, 2019