1.3m afs collected from cargo trucks in Baghlan annually

PUL-I-KHUMRI (Pajhwok): Transport and municipality officials at Pul-i-Khumri gates and ports illegally receive tens of thousands of afghanis from cargo truck drivers every day, investigations by Pajhwok Afghan News show.

A presidential decree has already waived off the commission (money taken from cargo trucks drivers) inside the country. But transport and municipality personnel at gates to Pul-i-Khumri, the capital of Baghlan province, continue taking money from trucks in the garb of transport commission and municipal tax.

According to Pajhwok’s investigation, the said employees pocket the money instead of depositing it in state treasury.

A Pajhwok reporter visited the area to talk to officials and drivers. He obtained pictures showing municipal and transport officials taking money from truckers in addition to other documents.

Drivers: We are beaten if we don’t pay

Shukrullah, one of the drivers at the northern gate to Pul-i-Khumri, told Pajhwok: “I have loaded sugar from Kabul and want to take it to Mazar-i-Sharif. As you saw, they charged me took 100 afghanis.”

Responding to a question, he said: “If I don’t pay, I will stay here for days for not paying 100 afghanis. I could be beaten and even killed.”

Baz Mohammad, another driver, alleged he was forced into paying 2,000 afgahnis to police, traffic, transport and municipal officials on one excuse or another on the road from Kunduz to Pul-i-Khumri.

He added: “They don’t ask what you have loaded, Standing with sticks in their hands, they beat the divers who don’t pay.”

According to him, he is on his way to Balkh province and that he could be made to pay another 1,000 afghanis on similar pretexts.

Many other drivers had similar complains, saying they received no governmental receipts for the money they paid.

The drivers reckon the officials concerned earned tens of thousands of afghanis that they put it in their pockets instead of state coffers.

The drivers asked government officials to address the issue at the earliest possible. For municipal services, only passenger vehicles are be charged at designated locations.

But pictures taken on the road from the Mazar-i-Sharif port to Pul-i-Khumri show truckers are also charged — just like drivers of passenger vehicles.

An official of the transport department in the area, who did not want to be named, told Pajhwok he and his colleagues were not involved in taking illegal money from cargo truck drivers.

But he said: “Another office has been set up next to us. There are several people sitting there. I don’t know how they justify taking money from trucks. I know they have been awarded a contract by the municipality.”

But Mohammad Rassoul, head of this office, said under the law, they took money from passenger vehicles for municipal services. But the pictures tell an altogether different story.

Rassoul said: “The four of us are not municipality workers. Each of us is paid 300 afghanis on a daily basis and we collect tax from vehicles and give it to the persons who have been rented out this place by the municipality.”

Documents in the so-called municipality office suggest these people give receipts to only four or five vehicles daily, charging every driver 20 to 30 afghanis.

However, a copy of the contract obtained by Pajhwok for the Pul-i-Khumri gates is far below the required amount and cannot be repaid.

The contract was signed between the Pul-i-Khumri municipality and a man named Sayed Masoom on November 26, 2020, according to which the man had to pay 7,722 afghanis per day to the municipality.

According to the contract, the parking lots in Kunduz, Kabul, Mazar were given to Sayed Masoom for a one-year contract for 2,780,250 afghanis.

However, the contract did not specify what kind of vehicle would be charged and under what conditions the money would be charged.

Baghlan transport department: the money is being taken from vehicles by municipality

Mohammad Tahmas Arianpur, Baghlan’s transport chief, said they had stopped charging trucks in compliance with a presidential decree.

He said: “The municipality has set up an office next to ours, taking money in the name of municipal services. Thus they have defamed us.”

Arianpur added any of their officers seen taking illegal money would be referred to the prosecutor’s office.

But pictures obtained by Pajhwok show municipality and transport officials receiving money from trucks.

Municipality claims transparency

Eng. Nizamuddin Hamidi, the mayor of Pul-i-Khumri, refused to deny or confirm illegal payments at gates to the province. However, he insisted revenue was collected transparently at all gates.

“We have awarded a man a proper revenue collection contract. There is no problem; it is a good step in terms of tax recovery,” he remarked.

The mayor added due to security concerns, they were unable to collect tax on municipal services. As a result, they had awarded a contract to an individual named Syed Masoom, who is paid 2.7 million afghanis a year.

Hamidi promised initiating legal actions against the contractor if he demanded illegal gratification money from any truck driver.

Meanwhile, the Public Works Regulatory Authority said in a letter to provinces that those fleecing truckers in the name of commissions should be arrested by the security forces.

Baghlan police chief Brig. Gen. Mohammad Wais Samimi said he was aware of the extortionist practice. He claimed having taken action against those who received illegal taxes from truckers at ports and gates.

For instance, he said: “Today, at the Mazar-i-Sharif-Pul-i-Khumri port, I arrested two people — a traffic officer and a transport official — in connection with taking money from trucks and immediately referred them to the Attorney General Office.”

The police chief said he had deployed a number of officers at the gates to combat any illegal money laundering.

Outcome:

Roads to nine provinces pass through Baghlan, which is located in the north of the country. Data shows about 500 trucks pass through the province daily.

If an average of 100 afghanis are taken from375 trucks, 37,500afs are extorted daily, 1,125,000afs a month and 13,500,000afs a year.

In other provinces as well, even at gates to the capital Kabul, people with sticks can be seen receiving money from truckers and drivers of passenger vehicles.

sa/mud

This report has been produced by Pajhwok and financially supported by UNDP and Denmark.