Toll tax - Veterans

Lt Col ( Retd ) I B Dutt
It is quite surprising that the Government is downgrading the prestige of decorated veterans to this level that is expects the veterans to carry their decorations along with in order to claim exemption in toll tax. One wonders as how much would it cost the Government to give a sweeping exemption for the veterans and their dependents from all the toll taxes. I am quite sure the amount involved over couple of decades would be less than the one lost by the state ion any one scandal.
Now, from the veteran’s point of view, the amount involved is peanuts but it gives them a separate identity. Not only that the dependents would feel that the service rendered by their elders have given them a special status. This gesture would act as a motivational factor for the young ones to join the forces.
What a paradox it is that whenever the lives of people are in danger, or there is a calamity, law and order problem, search for a lost copter in inhospitable terrain, arranging an event of National level, etc., we think of the most dependable and disciplined force that is defense forces but when there is any relaxation / perk, howsoever minuscule it might be, we are reluctant.