ITANAGAR, Oct 6: Members of the All Arunachal Pradesh Public Transport Federation (AAPPTF), led by its president Dobing Sonam, on Friday called on Chief Minister Pema Khandu at his office here and submitted a memorandum demanding strict implementation of the reciprocal transport agreement (RTA) which was signed between the governments of Arunachal Pradesh and Assam in 1999.
The RTA provides for a corridor facility for passenger vehicles plying from one point of any reciprocating state to another point of the same state, through the territory of the other state. Accordingly, the operator/vehicle concerned is not required
to pay any tax in the other state through which the corridor facility has been availed.
“As per Clause 4 of the agreement, the transport authority of either state has the authority to issue a temporary permit for specific routes not mentioned under the RTA and the same which shall be subjected to only a single-point motor vehicle tax. However, we have received numerous complaints from the operators of Arunachal that the officials of Assam are levying heavy taxes on them even for plying on the routes that fall under the corridor facility, and for countersigning the temporary permits. This is totally against the terms of the RTA,” the AAPPTF stated in its memorandum.
The federation requested the chief minister to intervene in the matter and discuss the issue with the government of Assam, so that the agreement is followed in letter and spirit.
Re-allotment of the APST bus depot land in Naharlagun (which is presently allotted to the TRIHMS) to the urban development department for construction of a parking lot, and early completion of the four-lane highway were the other demands of the federation.
The AAPPTF later said the chief minister assured to look into the grievances.
