ISLAMABAD: Days after the disclosure about exemption of parliamentarians from toll tax on motorways and highway, PML-N leader Senator Irfan Siddiqui on Thursday termed the move as inappropriate.

Talking to a group of media persons he said he would raise his voice against the decision to restore the facility in and outside the parliament.

“I will move a resolution against it on the first day of the Senate’s upcoming session on Monday,” he remarked.

He said it would be devastating if different government bodies start dolling out favours on the lawmakers whose real job is to solve problems of the common man. He said this will create another class of elites. “If we cannot pay more than the common man, we should at least pay on par with them,” he stressed.

Senator Siddiqui said that there should not be any kind of discrimination regarding toll tax. The National Highway Authority (NHA) through a circular issued on Sept 16, had asked all authorities concerned not to collect toll tax on motorways and highways from members of the National Assembly and Senate. It is stated in the circular that this decision has been approved by the National Highway Council.

Senator Irfan Siddiqui has said that this decision is not appropriate in any way.

He said that MPs should cheerfully pay all the taxes that a common man pays. Irfan Siddiqui further said that he will raise the matter in the House and will put pressure on the National Highway Authority to withdraw the decision.

The Senate Standing Committee on Communications was told on Monday that the members of the National Assembly have been exempted from toll tax on motorways and highways.

The panel was told that the exemptions for the parliamentarians had been abolished some time ago but now the immunity has been restored.

During the meeting, Senator Saifullah Abro said the recent increase in toll tax on motorways from Rs160 to over Rs1,000 had made it impossible for a poor man to travel on a highway.

“A poor man could not even afford a cup of tea in the service area on the highway,” he added. The panel was told that 10 percent increase in toll tax is made under the agreements.

Published in Dawn, September 23rd, 2022