National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) setting up atoll plaza in South Kashmir and levying taxes on the vehicles moving on theSrinagar-Jammu National Highway has triggered a row.
Jammu and Kashmir Governor Satya Pal Malik has tried todiffuse the crisis by announcing that locals would be exempted from paying anytax and they need not worry, but the NHAI has said that decision to waive offthe road tax lies with the Government of India (GoI).
When the NHAI set up a toll plaza at Nagrota on the NationalHighway -44, at that point of time people in Jammu region termed the levying oftaxes on the local vehicles plying on the highway as “arbitrary” followingwhich the government waived off the tax. There is every possibility ofgovernment doing the same in Kashmir but the point is if this tax had to bewaived off then why was it imposed at the first place? Decision to waive offthe tax on locals could have been taken before making the toll plazafunctional. People at the helm need to bear it in mind that Jammu and Kashmiris not like other states as avenues, especially in the Valley, are limited. Andpeople cannot bear the burden of taxes due to their income being limited.
People in Kashmir have been struggling to make their endsmeet due to the turmoil prevailing in the Valley for the past three decades.Instead of helping the masses out the government taking harsh steps is makingtheir life difficult.
Governor Malik seems to have gauged the situation and hastried to douse the flames. He has been doing it since the day he took over thereins of the state. The Governor on many occasions has stepped in to correctthe wrongs. This time around everyone expects him to do the same.
Some people are of the opinion that if the transporters areusing the highway then they should pay the tax. But they seem to be illinformed about the fact that most of the vehicles plying on the Valley roadshave been financed by banks and the owners of these vehicles have to pay heavyinstalments every month to ensure that their vehicles keep on moving on theValley roads.
In other states life goes on 24×7 all throughout the yearbut in Kashmir the working season is limited to few months only due toinclement weather conditions. Even the government stays here for six monthsonly as the rulers want to keep themselves warm rather than facing the bitingcold conditions in the Valley. In Kashmir the people associated with the privatesector earn only for six months. They almost sit idle for half of the year.It’s strange that people, who sometimes ban the movement of civilian vehicleson the highway and sometimes impose taxes on the movement of vehicles on thesame highway, just ignore these facts.
One can understand that at present there is no electedgovernment in place in Jammu and Kashmir as the state is directly under NewDelhi’s rule but that doesn’t mean that there is no government in place.Governor Satya Pal Malik during all these months has remained very responsiveto the needs of people and has always directed the officials to ensure thatcommon people don’t suffer. The Governor every time has had to walk an extramile to undo the wrongs.
The Jammu-Srinagar National Highway has remained in newsduring the past few months. This year it remained closed for days together dueto inclement weather conditions in the winter months. Soon after the weatherimproved, the government imposed restrictions on the movement of civilian vehicleson the highway for 2-days in a week to facilitate the movement of the securityforces convoy. The restrictions have been almost done away with as theelections have ended but still the civilian vehicles cannot move on the NH-44between Udhampur and Srinagar on Sundays. Pathetic condition of highway betweenBanihal and Ramban leads to its frequent closure and this has triggeredshortage of various products in the Valley markets. Less supply and more demandhas made common man’s life more challenging as prices have shot up and hisincome has been squeezed.
It’s high time for the incumbent administration to shift itsfocus from the highway towards something constructive and allow the vehicles tomove without any taxes and restrictions. People of Kashmir need a breathingspace and they should be given a chance to breathe freely.
(Javaid Malik is Senior Editor Greater Kashmir)