From Our Correspondent
JOWAI: The Meghalaya Truck Owners’ Association (MCTOA) has alleged that people manning the Hynniewmer weighbridge of the Transport department have made it into an ‘extortion gate’.
The MCTOA’s Jaintia hills unit chief Balen Thubru said, “The weighbridge is illegally collecting money from truckers plying in the National Highway 44.”
“It collects Rs. 500 per truck from Khasi Pnar drivers and Rs. 1000 to Rs. 3000 from non-local drivers,” Thubru said.
“According a reliable source the weigh bridge collects more than Rs. 25 lakh in a day from over 15000 trucks plying daily on the highway out of which only Rs. 25,000 regularly goes to the government exchequer”.
The MCTOA also expressed unhappiness over leasing of the weightbridge to the same lessee for the last seven years.
“Since 2006, the weighbridge of the Transport Department is being leased out to the same person”, Thubru said adding that “We demand cancellation of the lease.”
The MCTOA believed that if the weighbridge is departmentally operated, it would greatly help the government in terms of revenue collection.
