KOHAT: A jirga comprising political, social activists, traders, lawyers and elders on Monday demanded that private vehicles of people belonging to Kohat district, including the Darra Adamkhel tribal subdivision, should be exempted from the toll tax at the Pakistan-Japan Friendship Tunnel.

The jirga made the demand after holding its third and final round of talks with deputy commissioner Abdul Akram here.

National Logistics Cell holds the contract of toll collection at the tunnel.

Speaking to reporters after the meeting, Mr Akram said that he had a detailed meeting with the officials of the National Highway Authority on the issue of exempting private motorists from toll tax and lowering the increased levies on commercial transport vehicles.

He said Kohat division commissioner Motasim Billah would also meet the NH A authorities over the issue.

Meanwhile, the jirga formed committees for holding talks with the authorities and also launch legal battles against `illegal toll t ax` levied on the private vehicles.

Chairman of all business grand alli-ance Haji Abid, chief of all Tajir Ittehad Ameer Khan Afridi, former district nazim Naseem Afridi, focal persons of PTI MNA Shehryar Afridi an MPA Shafi Jaan, lawyers, politicians, and elders spoke at the jirga.

The participants rejected the recent rise in tickets from Rs70 to Rs130 per private vehicle.

They further said as half of the 1.9km tunnel was located on the Kohat side and the other half fell in Darra Adamkhel tribal subdivision, so private vehicles owned by people from these areas should be exempted from toll tax.

They said people, including traders and officegoers, had to travel through the tunnel at least twice a day, and collecting toll from them on each occasion was unjustified and illegal.

The jirga participants also blasted the authorities for subjecting the people of Kohat to excessive electricity and gas outages despite the fact that the district produced huge quantities of oil and gas.

They regretted that despite the high court orders that local people had the first and foremost right over gas produced in their areas, the residents were subjected tolonggas outages.