HARIPUR: A tug of war, started a few years ago, between the administration of Khanpur Dam and Khanpur Tehsil Municipal Administration over the collection of taxes finally landed in the court of consumer judge here on Thursday.

Water and Power Development Authority, a federal department, prayed the court to bar TMA from collection of every kind of tax from the Khanpur reservoir and surrounding area.

Khanpur dam official sources said that TMA Khanpur had been collecting local taxes from boatmen, jetty owners, parasailing clubs and picnickers since 2018 but interestingly had no record of total revenue collected and transferred to provincial government exchequer.

The project director of Khanpur Dam, through his petition submitted with Consumer Judge Muneera Abbasi, said that TMA Khanpur that was occupying central government’s land and registering boats, jetties, parasailing clubs and vehicle parking, collected Rs11.4 million from the Khanpur reservoir during 2021 to August 2024.

Case about right on the revenue being generated from the dam already pending before PHC Abbottabad bench

The petitioner claimed that the land from where the TMA was collecting taxes was not its property so it should be barred from carrying out registration process and collection of taxes. He said that revenue so far collected by TMA was the property of Khanpur Dam and should be transferred to it.

The consumer judge on Thursday barred TMA from collection of taxes from the land belonging to Khanpur Dam and served notices to parties for personal appearance on August 30.

The dam authorities had earlier written to assistant commissioner of Khanpur on June 13, 2024, declaring the parking and water sport activities at Khanpur Dam by TMA as illegal.

Through the same communication, they also shared the recommendations of Key Point Intelligence Islamabad, directing the dam authorities to finish all boating activities or bring them under the umbrella of Wapda and issue uniform colours and logos to all boats to check trespassers.

An executive engineer through the letter requested the assistant commissioner to stop TMA from illegal car parking and encroachment on Wapda’s land, bar it from collecting fee for parking and water sports and deposit all funds in Wapda’s account of Khanpur Dam.

After the letter from dam authorities, Boat Association Khanpur had moved consumer court and obtained a stay order, which was later challenged in the Abbottabad bench of Peshawar High Court by TMA. The case is still pending.

TMA officials claimed that during 2020 a committee headed by then deputy commissioner of Haripur was constituted to develop SOPs for tourists visiting Khanpur Lake.

They said that officers of Khanpur Dam, AC, TMO and police authorities, who were part of the committee, had principally agreed to establish a parking lot and allow water sports for a minor tax.

According to them, following the decision of the committee, TMA prepared a tax schedule, which was later approved by provincial government in 2021 and the powers of registration of boats and jetties and collection of parking lot fee were transferred to TMA Khanpur.

They claimed that TMA was providing facilities of sanitation, streetlights, solid waste disposal and potable water to tourists and implementing the SOPs against the minor amount of monthly collection.

The dam authorities contested their claim and said that they could not place a single bench for tourists let alone other facilities.

The TMA officials and assistant commissioner had on Wednesday sealed some of the parked boats for nonpayment of taxes, which drew protest from the boatmen. However, after negotiations between boatmen and the tehsil administration, the boats were de-sealed.

Published in Dawn, August 23rd, 2024