SHANGLA: The transporters supplying sand across the district have been on a wheel-jam strike for last three days at Maira Bisham against imposition of taxes by the Alpuri tehsil municipal administration.

They have parked their vehicles along the Karakoram Highway in protest.

The transporters union president Rustam Khan, who was leading the protesters, said they were already paying taxes for collecting sand, but now the administration had imposed fresh tax on per trip.

`Our business had already been affected due to installation of stone crushing plants in the area and with the imposition of news taxes they would be put out of work, he feared.

Rustam Khan said they were not ready to pay more taxes to the government.

Muhammad Zahir, a driver, said sand suppliers had been facing financial issues because the government first banned NGOs which generated lot of construction activity, and now it was forcing them to pay taxes.

He said imposition of different kinds of taxes on them was beyond understanding. He added that labourers doing the loading and unloading had also been affected due to slump in the business. Zahir said there were hundreds of daily wagers associated with the business.

Umar Ali, a transporter, said the tehsil municipal administration, Alpuri, was collecting illegal taxes from the sand collectors, which should be stopped. The transporters warned that if the taxes were not withdrawn sand collectors would continue their strike.

When contacted, deputy commissioner Tashfeen Haider told Dawn that consultation was underway with the sand suppliers to help resolve the matter.

He said that he would contact the mineral department to ask whether or not it had imposed any tax on sand suppliers.