Gate fees collected from all motor services have been increased as of this month by the Vehicles Controller Committee (VCC) in Sagian Division, Kalemyo.

A report said that the Kaleymyo VCC group has started to collect Kyat 500 per vehicle instead of the earlier Kyat 200.

A member of the Chin Hill motor (local called Chin Taungtan) service group said that the reason for increasing the gate fee was the rising price of essential commodities which the VCC group cannot cope with given their salaries. They are trying to increase their income base.   

The Kaleymyo VCC group had opened four check gates on the way to Kalemyo to Chin state, Kaley –Tamu to Mandalay, Kaley to Gangaw and Kaley to Letpanchaung roads. Now they are collecting Kyat 500 each from every vehicle as gate pass fees.

Half of the money collected has to be handed over to the Transport and Communication Department, from where their departmental staff will get some money as salary. Usually about 100 vehicles ply from Kaleymyo to other townships daily.

The service vehicle owners are already members of the Vehicles Controller Committee for they believed that they could get petrol and diesel at subsidized rates. But so far that has not happened. 

If a vehicle does not belong to a VCC member, they charge anything up to Kyat 5000 as penalty. So it is essential to be a member of VCC for all vehicle owners.

The Vehicle Controller Committee of Kalemyo was established in 1993 by Burmese authorities and supervises all service vehicles in Kaleymyo.