MUZAFFARGARH, Oct 19: Toll plazas have emerged at the entrance or exit points in Muzaffargarh district where people extort money from the traders of animals, Dawn has learnt.

One such toll plaza has been set up on Multan-Muzaffargarh Road near the River Chenab Bridge, where a group of people stops those trucks or vans carrying animals. They charge Rs500 to Rs1,000, depending on the number of cattle head, from each vehicle.

Every animal trader has to pay the amount for every trip. Government officials admit that these toll points are illegal and blame each other for their functioning.

Nazar Kallo and Hasnain Rodni, truck drivers, told Dawn they had to pay Rs1,000 to these plazas every time they entered or left the district for carrying cattle heads. They said even though they travelled across the country carrying cattle but in other districts they had never been stopped for paying such tax. They said the thugs in Muzaffargarh never gave them any receipts.

This correspondent visited the Chenab Bridge toll plaza on Friday and saw some people having sticks in their hands. They have installed a barrier on the road to stop vehicles.

When asked about tax on cattle, one of them said that they were collecting the money with the approval of Muzaffargarh Tehsil Municipal Officer (TMO) Fareed Khirani. They showed the correspondent a letter duly signed by the TMO. The letter states that these people have been permitted to collect tax on cattle heads being moving out or moving in the district. They said that they had to pay a big amount to the TMO for this toll check-post. He said he had engaged so many people for the toll plaza, because sometimes he had to engage them in fighting for collecting the tax.

Sources said the weekly tax collection at this toll plaza was Rs20,000 to Rs30,000.

Tauqeer Dona, District Council official, said the government had abolished tax on inter-district cattle movement long ago. Tehsil Officer Iqbal Hussain said they had not approved any contract regarding tax collection on cattle.

TMO Fareed Khirani said such toll pickets were illegal and the people engaged in extortion had a fake letter showing a contract approval from the TMA. He said the people engaged in tax collection were powerful ones and he could not take any action against them. Tehsil Nazim Sardar Abad Dogar was not available for comment.