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LDP draws Govt attention to irregular tax rates at State toll gates

By Staff Reporter

GUWAHATI, Nov 18 - Expressing concern at what it termed �the irregular rate of taxes collected at various toll gates across the State�, the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) today demanded immediate intervention of the Assam government in the matter.

�At a time when the general public is trying to cope with the post-COVID 19 situation after months of unemployment, it is unfortunate that National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) is still charging high rates and unfortunately, no one in the State government seems to be concerned about this,� LDP national chairman Prodyut Bora said.

He added, �Thousands of crores of rupees are being collected every year from toll gates in India and yet we do not have a highway which we can actually compare to those in Europe or the USA. Our construction quality and smoothness of the roads are still not comparable to western standards. In 2019, Union Minister for Road Transport & Highways Nitin Gadkari said that people must pay for good services. In reality, if you take the example of the Guwahati-Nagaon highway there are no streetlights, no maintenance of highway divider plants, no proper lane or crossing for pedestrians and sometimes we find cows loitering around. So where is the service?�

The LDP has called upon the State government to immediately intervene in the matter �for public interest�. The party has also demanded better transparency from NHAI on how it fixes the rates by making those available online on a real-time basis.

Bora said that since the onset of the COVID-19, price rise of all essential items has already made it difficult for the normal people to survive on their limited income.

�Therefore, the NHAI and the Government of Assam must work together on giving the proper services as they promised and at the same time, they must keep the taxes to a reasonable level keeping in view the current economic situation in the State,� he added.

State chairman of LDP Holiram Terang said there are certain rules regarding collection of toll gate fees.

�One of those is to have a clear display of the fee structure for different vehicles. Besides, there are rules on how to decide fees for different types of vehicles. We do not know whether those rules are being followed or not. The State government should intervene in these matters and keep a check as the interest of the people is at stake,� Terang said.

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