MANSEHRA: People and members of the Datta neighbourhood council on Wednesday announced the launch of street protests against toll tax collection at Karakoram Highway in the Khatain Da Galla area here.

“People of a wide belt, including patients, use this toll plaza many times a day, so forcing them to pay toll tax repeatedly is unjustified amid high inflation,” chairman of the Datta neighbourhood council Asad Ali Shah told reporters here.

Accompanied by a group of residents, Mr Shah said motorists and passenger vehicles paid toll tax at four points on the Hazara Motorway within a one kilometer radius.

“We [residents] are going to launch street protests against the collection of toll tax in the Khatain Da Galla area,” he said.

Mr Shah complained that the National Highway Authority had enhanced that toll tax from Rs30 to Rs40.

“This toll plaza is put up on the outskirts of Mansehra city to the misery of people frequently travellingbetween Mansehra and Abbottabad and within the district,” he said.

He said the patients going from Mansehra to Ayub Medical Complex Hospital Abbottabad were also forced to pay toll tax.

“The Karakoram Highway from Mansehra to Abbottabad is in a highly dilapidated condition but the National Highway Authority is notspending even a single penny on its blacktopping and repairs,” he said, demanding intervention of authorities.

SUPPORT SOUGHT: The district administration and police department have sought support of religious scholars and traders for maintaining peace in Muharram.

“You should extend all-out support to us for peace efforts,” deputy commissioner Adnan Khan Battani told clerics and traders from Mansehra, Oghi, Balakot, Darband and Baffa-Pakhal tehsilsin a meeting here on Wednesday.

District police officerShafiullah Khan Gandapurand assistant commissioners from those tehsils also attended the meeting.

The deputy commissioner said all Muharram mourning and Zuljinnah routes wouldn’t be changed, while the district administration and police issued permits to religious gatherings only after reviewing the law and order situation.

He urged religious leaders not to resort to hate speech and said they should promote harmony among sects through speeches and sermons.

The DPO said his department in collaboration with other law-enforcement agencies had already evolved a security plan for Muharram.

Published in Dawn, July 4th, 2024