Thrissur: Walayar check post witnessed a serpentine double line queue of Kerala-bound trucks on Friday due to the alleged slowpedalling of commercial tax officials after the recent Vigilance raids at Govindapuram and Walayar check posts. The rush and the blockade at the check post which has RTO, excise and commercial tax officials, had been building up since Wednesday. The double queue was building up in the past three days, and on Friday noon the queue lengthened to one-and-a-half-km and went beyond the border bridge separating Tamil Nadu and Kerala.
Assistant commissioner of commercial tax R.S. Manoj at the Walayar check post told DC that by Friday noon all the 11 counters were working and the rush was being controlled. There was unexpected rush with the shift between 6 a.m. and 2 p.m. witnessing 680 vehicles instead of an average 400 to 420. He refuted the allegations by the truck owners and the officials of the RTO check post that the slow pedalling and non-availability of staff at the commercial check post led to the logjam.
However, motor vehicle inspector in-charge at the RTO check post, R. Raghunath, told DC that there were three weighing bridges at his check post and two of them were managed by a private party authorised by the commercial tax department. “The number of trucks has increased in the last few days, but the commercial tax officials were operating only with one weighing bridge. After the district administration intervened on Friday, two staffers were sent in to operate their second weighing bridge,” he noted.
RTO officials also said that due to GST training, there were not enough staff at the commercial check post which led to the such a situation. Palakkad Vigilance DySP M.K. Sukumaran said that last week during their inspection a truck was caught while passing through the check post without giving proper tax in proportion to the load and was fined '66,000. “The report has been forwarded to Vigilance Director Loknath Behra for taking action against the commercial tax officials concerned,” he said. Palakkad collector P. Marykutty visited Walayar on Friday night for inspection and the traffic through the check post eased after her intervention.
