Truckers stage protest against ‘illegal taxes’

JALALABAD (PAN): Construction material traders and drivers on Wednesday staged a peaceful protest against what they called illegal taxes they had to pay on different highways.

Hundreds of the protestors blocked the road connecting eastern Kunar province with Nangarhar, alleging armed individuals on highways received money from them in the name of one levy or another.

Truckers’ union head Malik Haseeb told Pajhwok Afghan News the armed men of some companies fleeced them at the four gates to Jalalabad.

He said they had parked their trucks at Behsud and Saracha bridges and in Surkhrod, where they were asked to pay a tax on minerals.  “We do not transport this stuff. Instead we carry construction materials but they still want us to pay.”

He claimed some companies had been contracted on these highways to extort money from track drives and traders on different pretexts.

The companies’ guards took positions on the highways if any driver refused to pay, he complained, alleging the armed men even beat them.

mrh/mud

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