FAISALABAD, April 7: Federal Minister for Textile Industry Mushtaq Cheema has said the issue of the imposition of heavy fine by the National Highway Authority (NHA) on excess Cargo Weight Vehicles had been resolved.

He told newsmen here on Friday that he met federal Minister for Communication Shamim Siddiqi in the presence of NHA officials and impressed upon him that with the imposition of fines and impounding of vehicles near Karachi, exports would hamper.

He suggested them that the decision be deferred for some time so that transporters could modify the axles of their vehicles.

He said Mr Siddiqi gave relaxation over excess load till June 30 and only a token fine of Rs1,000 would be imposed on excess load. The minister issued orders to NHA not to detain cargo vehicles and unload the cargo, added Mr Cheema.

He said he, along with communication minister, would move the government to exempt the transporters from duty on import of axles. At present, 35 per cent import duty was levied on import of axles and the zero-rated duty would help the transporters to modify their vehicles according to NHA requirement.