Vizag district witnesses up to 90% drop in revenues

Revenue collection, including commercial tax, excise, transport, stamps and registration, and mining, across government departments in Visakhapatnam district have dropped significantly over the last 40 days due to Samaikhyandhra agitations.

The Andhra Pradesh State Road Transport Corporation (APSRTC) has lost more than Rs 32 crore revenues in the last 35 days. "Our daily earnings from the Vizag district prior to the employee strike stood at Rs 90 lakh," said Y Jagadeesh Babu, regional manager, APSRTC.

The corporation's 1,056 buses were off the road due to the ongoing strike, he added.

In July, excise collections in the district stood at Rs 32 crore, but plunged to Rs 3 crore in August. Similarly, commercial tax collections from Vizag too dropped to Rs 1.20 crore in August as against Rs 30 crore in July.

The strike saw collections of Eastern Power Distribution Corporation plunging to Rs 60 crore in August as against a monthly average of Rs 250 crore.

While the ticket sales from Vizag railway station to short distances, including Aanakapalli, Tuni, Rajahmundry, Kakinada, Vijayawada, Vizianagaram and Srikakulam, saw a 20 per cent uptick, the daily revenues declined 2-3 per cent due to less movement of passengers from Vizag to Hyderabad and other parts of Telangana and on ticket cancellations, said a senior official of Waltair Railway Division.