MULTAN, Nov 24: The Multan city municipal administration has deferred recovery of terminal turning tax (TTT) from the general bus stand under the new rates on the intervention of the Multan district Nazim.

The municipal administration has recently announced a new slab of TTT for the public sector transport operating from the general bus stand. Moreover, the administration has also decided to collect this tax on its own.

The new slab invited anger of the transporters. The All-Pakistan Motor Transport Federation, Multan, threatened to go on wheel-jam strike against the revised TTT slab.

District Nazim Makhdoom Shah Mahmood Qureshi, therefore, convened a meeting on Saturday of all the parties concerned in his office to avert the looming law and order problem.

City tehsil Nazim Mian Faisal Mukhtar Shaikh informed Mr Qureshi by telephone during the meeting that the issue of increase in TTT was in the court since 1993 and had been dismissed thrice due to the disinterest of the transporter community. At this, the audit wing of the local government department raised the issue of the recovery of the outstanding dues which compelled the city administration to increase the TTT rates.

Punjab Transport Authority secretary B. A. Nasir said though the city administration had imposed the new TTT slab under local government ordinance, it had not fulfilled the obligation to get the approval of Regional Transport Authority secretary under Section 254 of the Motor Vehicle Ordinance.

The district Nazim urged the city tehsil Nazim to postpone the recovery of TTT under new slab until all the three stakeholders — the city administration, transporters and the RTA — reached an amicable solution to the matter. On it, the recovery of TTT had been postponed till Nov 28.

A committee was constituted having membership of all the stakeholders of the TTT-related matter. The committee will submit its report to the Road Transport Authority chairman. Multan RTA secretary Iqbal Ahmad Chaudhry will head the committee.