GUWAHATI: Hundreds of members of the Motor Parivavan Sewakarmi Sonmilita Mancha (MPSSM) took to the streets on Wednesday against the excess tax collection drive of the state transport department in Assam, which has affected more than 25 lakh people involved in the transport sector in the state.

The Motor Parivavan Sewakarmi Sonmilita Mancha (MPSSM), a joint platform of more than 50 transporters’ organizations, staged a mass memorandum submission program at the transport commissioner’s office in Guwahati on Wednesday.

“The transport sector, once a profit-making sector in which lakhs of unemployed youths were engaged, is now a sick industry due to wrong policies of the state government. It was recognized as a service sector. The government, in a bid to earn more revenue from the transporters, imposed new taxes and fines on them. The harassment caused by the government officials has virtually threatened the existence of the transport industry in Assam,” said MPSSM president Rabindra Kumar Dutta.

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“Due to hikes in fuel prices and taxes and fines, the operational costs of transports have gone up. The transporters are often harassed due to imposition of a fine by the authorities for a petty mistake,” Dutta alleged.

There has been a hike in taxation during the purchase of vehicles, registration fees, fitness tax, price of fuel, coolant, and gear oil tax. A transporter has to pay Rs 2,000 to Rs 10,000 as a fine for overspeeding, road tax from 11 to 15 years, and insurance premiums have also increased manifold.

Needless to say, tolls are to be paid in various toll plazas in the state.

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“The situation has gone to such an extent that no unemployed youth will be safe in this profession anymore. If such a situation is allowed to continue, everybody in this sector will have to leave this profession. And the state government will have to bear the burden of these unemployed youths,” Dutta also said.

The organization is comprised of unions and associations of transport owners, drivers, handymen, conductors, managers, and mechanics.

Members of the organization submitted a memorandum to the commissioner of transport at his office in Jawaharnagar.