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| Govt creating hassles for us to run our business, allege travel agents | | ‘Pilgrims face harassment on pretext of security check, have to pay entry tax to cross nakas’ | | Early Times Report
Jammu, Oct 5: Travel agents on Tuesday alleged that pilgrims visiting Mata Vaishno Devi shrine were being harassed at the pretext of security check.
A travel agent Rakesh Sharma while talking to a local news channel said, “Due to COVID-19 pandemic we faced immense losses, when now the pilgrims have started arriving in Katra town, they are being harassed.
The harassment is aimed at extracting money from the drivers.” He said, “The government had promised us that the compensation will be provided to the travel agents and tour operators. We didn’t get any compensation. Instead of compensating us they are not now, allowing us to operate our business without any hassles.”
Sharma said, “We paid taxes when our vehicles were stranded. Many of us took loans and sold our assets to make the buses run again.
Instead of giving us relaxation, new taxes are being imposed. Are these the Achey Dins we were waiting for? This is not the way the government is run.”
“We have been demanding that interest on banks should be reduced to some extent,” he added.
Sharma said, “From Shiv Khori to Katra the distance is about 79-km. A pilgrim has to cross 10 checkpoints. On the pretext of security check buses are stopped and drivers have to grease the palms to move ahead.
This is a sort of entry tax we have to pay the men in uniform. Pilgrims get fed up and often ask are they militants?
The government is not allowing us to run our businesses in a proper way. We are all worried and want to quit our business.” |
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