CHITRAL, April 6: Habitual of buying cheap new vehicles and drive them without paying any tax, public transporters here have opposed the government’s recent move to legalize the non-customs paid vehicles on the payment of a certain amount.
The representatives of Terichmir Driver Union while opposing the customs duty told a press conference that Chitral is a backward area most of drivers earned a living running the NCP vehicles as taxis. Those who spoke to the local reporters were Syed Nasir Hussain, Haji Mohammad Yousuf, Mir Ajab Khan and Amir Ali Khan.
They said the government wants to impose customs duty on these vehicles at the rate of 35% on 88 model vehicles and 45% on new model vehicles which is out of the reach of the poor drivers and transporters. They said the government remitted loan of billion of rupees to its citizens and the drivers should also be given some relief.
They said that they already paid renewal fee for these NCP vehicles and the additional charges would break their back. They appealed to the concerned authorities to exempt these NCP vehicles from customs duty in Malakand division particularly in Chitral.–Gul Hamaad Farooqi