TEAM HERALD
CANACONA: Having earlier encountered various obstacles from the inter-state transporters, the State government’s ambitious entry tax at the toll plazas is now causing resentment from within the toll plaza itself.
While the State government claims to have generated substantial revenue through the collection of entry taxes on interstate vehicles, the staffers manning the toll plaza at Shelli in Loliem-Polem village are allegedly yet to be paid their wages since the last nine months.
According to sources, the only payment that they have received during these nine months is Rs 10,000 for the Ganesh festival.
“Since the Entry tax toll plazas became operational from April 2013, six staff personnel comprising four guards and two fee inspectors have been working a 12-hour shift. There are, in all, 24 personnel employed at the Shelli toll plaza alone. Most of them were employed since the beginning, while a few others joined a month later,” disclosed one of the staff members.
“However, none of us have been paid our wages till date, except for Rs 10,000 for Ganesh festival. In the absence of our salaries, it has become virtually impossible to manage our households. In fact, some disgruntled staffers have already left their jobs and they have been replaced by others,” the staffer added.According to sources, the fee inspectors manning the cash counters were to be paid a monthly wage of Rs 10,500, while the gate guards were to earn Rs 8,000 per month. Meanwhile, the Shelli toll plaza has been generating an average daily collection of Rs 70,000-Rs 80,000. During Christmas season, the toll collection jumped to about Rs 1.5 lakh and the tax collection shot up to about Rs 3-4 lakh during the last two days of December, sources said.
