Srinagar: After people across the political and social spectrum protested the toll tax on the Jammu-Srinagar Highway, Jammu and Kashmir Governor Satya Pal Malik on Thursday assured that locals would be exempted from paying the tax.
“There won’t be any toll tax on the locals. We have taken up the issue with the central government but due to the ongoing election process things have slowed up a bit,” Governor said while inaugurating the grid lock separator in Srinagar.
Earlier, traders and transporters staged a protest outside the office of Deputy Commissioner Anantnag demanding that no toll tax shall be charged from common people who are already suffering from prolonged conflict and shattered economy.
On Tuesday, after the imposition of the tax, people protested against authorities and called the tax ‘outrageous’.
Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) had said the toll tax levied on the vehicles on the Srinagar-Jammu Highway in South Kashmir, has hit the already economically downtrodden people hard and they should be exempted from the toll tax.
