VISHVENDU JAIPURIAR
Hazaribag, Dec 26: The district is to witness a massive agitation in the coming days against the decision of the municipal corporation to collect toll tax called ‘chungi’ from 11 different entrance points of the town from commercial vehicles. A private company was given a contract of Rs. 4 crores annually and started its work on Friday.
As per sources, the eleven points which have these toll tax points called are:
- Sirsi Chowk
- Kudu railway bridge
- near Pelawal Union Bank
- Bazar Samiti
- Nutan Nagar
- Near Kshitij Hospital on NH-33
- Naudiha Chowk
- Near Chano river
- Near Naman Vidya
- Kadma overbridge
- Canary road
Small commercial vehicles will have to pay a toll tax of Rs 20, medium size vehicles are to pay Rs 40 while buses and trucks will pay Rs 100 and Rs 140 respectively for other bigger vehicles.
However, this has sparked anger among the locals who claimed that this ‘chungi’ is similar to that of Britishers.
“Is it right to pay chungi when we are paying all taxes to the concerned department at the time of purchase of the vehicle,” asked senior congress leader RS Prasad Mehta. He said he led a delegation to meet Deputy Development Commissioner Prerna Dixit to protest this decision of the corporation. “I will request Chief Minister Hemant Soren to interfere in this matter,” he added.
President of Hazaribag Chamber of Commerce and Industries, Shambhu Nath Agarwal, said this collection is wrong and against the bylaws of the Municipal Act. “We will protest this and in case no action is taken, we will not hesitate in knocking on the door of the court,” he added.
Chamber’s secretary Rakesh Thakur said the tax will increase the price of essential commodities coming into town including food grains to vegetables.
President of the bus owners’ association Jeevan Gope also expressed his anger and said they will announce ‘chakka jam’ if this decision is not taken back.
BJP leader Bhaiya Abhimanyu Prasad said the state chungi collection takes place only in Deoghar during Shravan month. However, the corporation officials said they did this so to increase revenue. “After all, the revenue collected will be used to develop the wards only,” they added.
Meanwhile, the DDC who went to see the chungi centres asked the company to make its employees do their duties in uniform as well as ID cards. She even directed to display the rate charts and also to install CCTVs at the points. “Also ensure smooth working so that no jam takes place during the collection,” she told them.
Interestingly, the company which got this contract was owned by Saroj Yadav, who is the younger brother of BJP leader and several times MLA Manoj Yadav. Congress leader R C Prasad Mehta targeted the local representatives of BJP including MP Jayant Sinha and Sadar MLA Manish Jaiswal over this. He termed the decision a dictatorship and said it was implemented to tarnish the image of the state government.
