To evade tax barriers, heavy vehicles use rural roads in Kasauli area

Ambika Sharma

Tribune News Service

Solan,April 22

In a bid to evade taxes, the multi-axle vehicles carrying tonnes of industrial goods, especially from the steel units in Baddi-Barotiwala-Nalagarh (BBN) industrial hub, are using the narrow village roads of Kasauli tehsil.

Though the e-way bills are compulsory for vehicles carrying industrial goods, truckers are evading tax payment by using village routes which have no excise and taxation barriers. These trucks usually start their journey after 10:30 pm from the BBN hub when there is little fear of checking.

“On the regular route, a vehicle has to pass through the excise barrier at Parwanoo, but these truckers use escape routes to evade tax,” said an excise official.

Villagers in the affected areas are up in arms over the use of rural roads as an industrial corridor. They have been complaining about trucks descending on the Patta Mehlog-Kasauli road after midnight on a daily basis. The village roads are neither designed to withstand such heavy load nor are repaired on a regular basis.

“A steep road from Baand to Chamiyan village has been the worst-hit,” a local resident said, adding that these vehicles also face difficulty negotiating the narrow Garkhal junction where five roads meet. There are traffic jams too when several trucks cross the area. The Solan DC said the police had been directed to ensure that multi-axle trucks did not ply on rural roads leading to Kasauli.

The DC, State Taxes and Excise, said: “Staff will be deputed to check these trucks and see if there is evasion of tax as this is not a regular route used by trucks carrying industrial goods.”

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