Members of Hearse/Ambulance and Undertakers Union in Umuahia, Abia State, on Tuesday, staged a protest over the alleged extortion of its members by Abia State revenue task force teams.
The union members, who gathered in front of the City Gate mortuary, Umuahia, wkith attendant traffic gridlock, alleged that touts have infiltrated the government’s revenue collection team to harass, intimidate and extort them as they convey corpses for burial.
Chairman of the union, Uche Kalu, lamented that members of the task force often vandalize ambulances conveying corpses if the drivers fail to part with money.
Kalu said each ambulance is usually forced to part with as much as N5,000 per trip.
He argued that ordinarily, members of the union have no business with revenue task forces due the emergency services they render to the public, adding that before leaving any mortuary, they pay all the fees that ought to be paid.
“We render essential service to the public. It should be noted that the Hearse/Ambulances driven by our members are owned by various private hospitals and mortuaries and therefore all necessary taxes, levies and rates are compulsorily paid before we leave the hospital, clinics or morgue.
“Therefore asking us to pay extra money on the road when we have settled all our bills at our take off point amounts to double taxation”, he stressed.
He, therefore, called on the State government to prevail on the revenue task force teams to stop harassing their members, saying that failure to do so will force their members to embark on strike.
H e said: “We are rendering essential service to the society; if the tasks force team delays our members from taking a sick person under emergency to the hospital, a life could be lost.
“On the under hand, if a hearse conveying the remains of a deceased person for burial is stopped on way, it may cause undue tension because of the mood of the people involved.
“All we are saying is that the revenue tasks force team should allow our members to serve the public without stress caused by undue harassment. If the harassment continues, we will have no option than to embark on a one month strike.”