KARACHI: President Karachi Chamber of Commerce and Industry (KCCI) M. Shariq Vohra has assured to take up the issue of exorbitant royalty to be paid by dumper-truck owners with Sindh Minister for Mines and Minerals Development Mir Shabbir Ali Bijarani, by requesting him to restore the previous rates while any increase in royalty must only be implemented after consultation with stakeholders.
Exchanging views with a delegation of All Pakistan Dumper Truck Owners Association and Insaaf Dumper Truck Owners Association led by Chairman Mian Jaan during their visit to KCCI on Monday, President KCCI said that it was a matter of grave concern that the dumper-truck owners had been on strike since September 9, which was going to create a lot of problems for the trade and industry, particularly in the construction sector.
“The government intends to accelerate the pace of economic development through incentivizing the construction sector which has undoubtedly picked up some pace but the strike by dumper truck owners has completely halted the construction activities and if this strike prolongs, it would give a serious blow to all the efforts being made by the government to boost the performance of construction sector”, he added.
The meeting was also attended by Vice President KCCI Shamsul Islam Khan and Managing Committee Members whereas Presidents of the Dumper Associations Haji Yousuf and Liaquat along with General Secretaries Jan Alam, Maqsood and Jahanzeb were also present.
Shariq Vohra further stated that strike of the dumper truck owners was neither in their own favor nor in favor of trade, industry and the economy; hence, they should put all their demands aside and call off their strike, as soon the government agrees to restore royalty at the previous level. This proposal was agreed upon by all the participants of the meeting.
The delegation informed that with a fleet of 11,000 dumper trucks, they have been catering to the needs Karachi and rest of Sindh by lifting the garbage and supplying construction materials not only for government development projects but also for all types of projects undertaken by the private sector, besides paying huge amount of taxes to the national exchequer.
They said; however, the Provincial Department of Mines & Mineral has recently issued a notification in which exorbitant royalty has been imposed and the task to collect royalty has been given to contractors which was unacceptable. This matter was taken up with all relevant authorities but as nobody bothered to pay any attention, it left us no other option but to go on strike, they added.
They demanded that as the increased royalty cannot be implemented, it must be immediately withdrawn. They said dumper trucks are usually set ablaze by the angry mobs whenever an accident occurs. They demanded that these damages must be compensated by the government.
Moreover, they stated that dumper trucks were being intercepted during their journey to demand bribes, which must also be stopped while proper parking space must also be allotted for the dumper trucks.
They said that dumper truck owners were already facing severe crises due to rising diesel prices and it was impossible for them to continue their work in such an odd situation in which they were being compelled to pay enhanced royalty which has been increased from Rs8 per ton to Rs40 per ton in addition to heavy toll tax.
Copyright Business Recorder, 2021
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