Opinion | Editorials
Salik toll fines don't ring true
Waiver has come following a failure to properly record violations of the system.
- Gulf News
- Published: 00:29 December 31, 2007
The announcement by the Dubai Roads and Transport Authority (RTA) to waive Salik fines for all motorists, without exception, followed by their sudden volte face yesterday is likely to leave the public bemused.
While the RTA's gesture was being viewed, in one part, as magnanimous, on the other hand those who have been committed enough to register for the toll fee were seeing it as grossly unfair. Due clarity has now been given to the situation.
Those who have failed to subscribe to Salik will pay the penalty and justifiably so. The reasoning is clear: why should those who have violated the rules be rewarded with a waiver at the expense of those who have been conscientious enough to comply with the system?
The earlier rationale that this move should simply be distinguished as a gesture of "goodwill" has fallen thin and the RTA has recognised that.
The common interpretation was that the initial waiver had come following a failure to properly record fines for those who had violated the system.
That logic having been erased, it is now clear that the RTA's gesture of benevolence has been directed at the right quarter.
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