Remove Himachal entry tax on Nangal-Bakhra road: BBMB chief engineer to Bilaspur DC
In a letter to Bilaspur DC, BBMB Chief Engineer says road leading from Nangal Dam to Bhakra Dam, located in Bilaspur district of Himachal, was owned and maintained by BBMB
The entry tax imposed by Himachal on its border has attracted another controversy. While the residents of border areas of Punjab have been opposing it, now the Bhakra Beas Management Board (BBMB) has written to Bilaspur DC to lift the entry tax toll from their road on the state border.
In a letter to Bilaspur DC, a copy of which was available with The Tribune, the BBMB Chief Engineer said the road leading from Nangal Dam to Bhakra Dam, located in Bilaspur district of Himachal, was owned and maintained by the BBMB.
However, the Himachal Pradesh government has implemented an entry tax for non-HP registered vehicles, with barriers including the Punjab-Himachal border in the Bilaspur district.
This was causing harassment to BBMB employees commuting daily from Nangal to Bhakra Dam for duty in their private vehicles. Even though the machinery being sent for repairs of the Bhakra Dam Road has been stopped by people manning the entry toll barrier, the Chief Engineer has held.
The Chief Engineer said that since the road leading from Nangal to Bhakra Dam was the property of BBMB, the entry toll should be shifted.
The AAP MLA from Ropar, Dinesh Chadha, who took up the issue of entry toll of Himachal in the Punjab assembly on Wednesday, while talking to The Tribune, said the Punjab government reserves the right to impose reciprocal entry tax on Himachal-registered vehicles entering Punjab.
The entry tax of Himachal was imposed in the neighbouring state by passing an act in the state assembly. The tax was initially imposed on all vehicles, including the Himachal-registered vehicles, and it was a nominal sum of Rs 30. However, later, the Himachal government exempted the Himachal-registered vehicles from the entry tax while increasing it exponentially to Rs 170 for vehicles registered in other states.
"Punjab residents living on the borders of Himachal are suffering the most due to the entry tax. The Himachal government has proposed to collect Rs 185 crores from the entry toll. I have made a proposal to the government that Punjab should also impose a reciprocal tax on vehicles registered in Himachal. The matter would be discussed with the legal department to impose the tax in case the Himachal government rescinds its increase in entry toll from April 1," he said.
Meanwhile, the Sargarsh morcha formed by residents of the border areas of Punjab to oppose Himachal entry tax has welcomed the decision of the government to consider imposing reciprocal entry tax on Himachal. Sargarsh Morcha president Paramjit Singh Pamma said, "We thank the AAP MLA, Dinesh Chadha, for taking up the issue in the Punjab assembly. However, our movement to get the tax abolished would continue. We shall be intensifying our agitation in the coming days."
"Fearing that the Punjab might also impose reciprocal tax on Himachal-registered vehicles, border residents of Himachal have also taken to social media and urged the Himachal government to abolish the entry tax. It is the common man who will suffer in case tax is imposed on both sides of the border," said Rajiv Bhanot, a resident of Himachal.
