Uniform date for Puspakom check, road tax renewal causes difficulty for taxi owners

The regulation that the date for the Computerised Vehicle Inspection Centre (Puspakom) check must be the same as the road tax renewal date for commercial vehicles is only causing difficulty to vehicle owners who have to go through numerous procedures.

Chairman of the Alor Setar City Taxi Association, Osman Omar said the regulation which came into effect in November last year resulted in taxi drivers not being able to work if the expired road tax was not renewed if the vehicle was not approved by PUSPAKOM.

"There are many processes we have to go through and if the vehicle is not approved by PUSPAKOM, the road tax cannot be renewed and we cannot go out to work," he said, adding that the ruling also caused congestion at PUSPAKOM.

"We have 130 members who are active taxi drivers. If the check at PUSPAKOM and the road tax renewal are at the same time, we cannot go out to work," he said.

He was speaking after the peaceful gathering by about 20 taxi and lorry drivers to protest the ruling held in front of the Kampung Berjaya market in Jalan Putra, here today.