Tax increase and slow road development hamper vehicle sales in Jaffna.
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| By - Arshad Najudmudeen |
Vehicle sales in Jaffna have drastically dropped with the recent increase in import taxes. Vehicle dealers also say that the snail moving road development projects halt the customer’s desire of investing in a vehicle. Recently we toured the peninsular to learn more about the impact of the tax increase on the masses.
The northern most part of the country was heavily battered by the ethnic turmoil for nearly three decades. Two third of the population in Jaffna are of low and middle income earning category. They have to work hard to earn for their meal. Job opportunities are inadequate in the area as the region is returning to normality after the ethnic conflict. With the dawn of peace, the province ventured into a path of development. Number of government and voluntary organizations came up to help boost the development programmes implemented in the area. However, masses in Jaffna say a majority of the population does not have a definite occupation which provide them a solid income.
The recent tax hike on vehicles has adversely affected hundreds of families who have been self-employed. A number of them use vehicles merely to support their occupation of self employment. Most of them in Jaffna use cargo type vehicles such as three-wheelers, lorries, crew cabs in which they could transport goods or passengers, thereby earning an income or minimizing the transportation cost.
Government has a different scope on the problem. Authorities says that a number of programmes are being executed by the government to uplift the living conditions of the masses. Even though the government has an optimistic view on the prevailing conditions in Jaffna, people still find it difficult to put up with the increasing cost of living. Since vehicles are an essential part of development, the increase in taxes and the skyrocketing fuel prices are not helping the people. The Tamil community, which needs to be integrated with the Sinhalese majority that has a larger proportion of the government, has to be treated fairly.
In order to have the contribution of the people in the development drive practiced by the government in the potential northern peninsular, it is the onus of the authorities to provide the masses a considerable upthrust to regain what they lost including houses, employment and the ethnic harmony.
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