Lahore: Jail Road traders threaten strike

[LRE]

* Automobile traders say new rules hindering sale of new vehicles

Staff Report

LAHORE: The Jail Road Traders’ Association (JRTA) has threatened to go on strike from Monday if the government does not make amendments to the newly introduced rules by the Excise and Taxation (E&T) Department for the sale and purchase of vehicles.

The association said all automobile markets of the city would be closed on Monday and the traders would observe a sit-in at the Farid Kot House (motor registration branch) if their demands were not met.

New rules: Addressing a press conference, JRTA General Secretary Zafar Iqbal said the new rules imposed a 25 percent additional registration charges as fine if a vehicle is not registered within 50 days. He said the fine would be increase to 50 percent if a vehicle is not registered within 120 days and 100 percent after 240 days. He said the new rules had hampered the sale of new vehicles. He said the new rules also made it mandatory for the buyer and seller of the vehicle to be physically present at the department for transfer of the vehicle’s ownership.

He said other factors such as increased prices of new cars and low availability of credit by banks had played havoc with the business. He said there had been no sale of new vehicles in the past four months, adding that traders would hold a final meeting on Saturday (tomorrow). He said if the government did not agree to amend rules, the traders would observe a complete shutdown in all automobile markets of the city. He condemned the department for not consulting the traders before introducing new rules, adding that traders paid heavy taxes and get nothing in return. He said the markets of Samanabad, Jail Road, Queen’s Road, Defence and Peco Road would remain closed from Monday onwards.

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