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Baghlan police order 2 truck scales closed

Baghlan police order 2 truck scales closed

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5 Mar 2015 - 15:00
Baghlan police order 2 truck scales closed
author avatar
5 Mar 2015 - 15:00

PUL-I-KHUMRI (Pajhwok): Police in northern Baghlan province have ordered two truck scales closed on charges of allowing goods beyond the permissible weight against bribes.

One of the weighbridges is mounted on the Baghlan-Kunduz Highway in Hussain Khail area and the second on the Kabul-North highway in Doshi district by the Ministry of Public Works.

Baghlan police chief Brig. Gen Aminullah Amarkhail told Pajhwok Afghan News officials of the two scales accepted bribes from truck owners to allow them to carry extra goods.

He alleged the scale officials registered 3,000 afghanis in tax from each truck, but they actually received 20,000 afghanis, pocketing 17,000 afghanis. The police chief said overloaded trucks contributed to road damages.

A truck driver, Abdul Azim, who ships metallic equipment on the Kabul-North highway, acknowledged scale officials allowed them to carry up to 15 tonnes extra load against 8,000 to 10,000 afghanis in bribe.

However, he said the money they paid in bribe to scale officials was deducted from their wages by the company they worked for. “We are tired of this situation and we want reforms in scales,” Azim said.

But Baghlan Public Works director Sibghatullah Kazimi called the police chief’s action as illegal and said he should have identified and arrested corrupt officials instead of closing down the scales.

 “I don’t reject or confirm corruption in the scales, but closing them will reduce the government’s revenue,” Kazimi said.

But the police chief said the issue had been shared with the Ministry of Public Works.

Truck drivers on the Kandahar-Kabul, Kabul-Gardez and Kabul-Torkham roads have also been complaining about illegal money taken from them at scales and police on the highways.

mds/rm/ma

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