 "fiscal deficit, revenue, growth, economy, tax collections, expenditure, coronavirus, covid-19")
Himachal Pradesh Transport Department has set a target to generate revenue of Rs 850 crore in the current financial year, Deputy Chief Minister Mukesh Agnihotri said on Wednesday.
He said it is Rs 175 crore more than the revenue generated by the department in the last year (Rs 675 crore).
Plugging leakages, cracking whip on outside vehicles entering the state without paying taxes and making registration of all vehicles mandatory would help in achieving the set target, the deputy chief minister said while addressing the media here after a review meeting of the transport department.
He underlined the urgency of raising revenue and said that tax defaulters have been given one-time relaxation to pay their dues with 10 per cent interest, waiving the rest of interest and penalty by June 30, 2023, which would accrue an income of Rs 150 crore.
Moreover, registration of all vehicles, including the JCB and heavy vehicles, has been made mandatory in the state.
Luxury buses coming from outside the state would have to pay Rs 5,000 per day, Rs 25,000 per week, Rs 75,000 per month or Rs 9 lakh per annum for plying buses in the state. This initiative is aimed at generating an additional revenue of Rs 10 crore as there are 200-250 such buses.
The state department has recently completed an exercise to review the performance of staff at the interstate barriers. Following this, a list of underperforming barriers not meeting the targets has been prepared, he said, adding that performance-based incentives like promotions and increments would be introduced and the barriers failing to meet the targets would face the consequences.
Meanwhile, name plates depicting designation of owners other than the government vehicles would not be permitted in the state.
Constant vigil would be kept on all barriers and vehicles used for illegal mining and policy of "zero tolerance" would be adopted for evasion of tax on barriers, he said, adding that scrap policy would be in place for replacement of overage vehicles (more than 15 years) and checking of vehicles would be fully automatic.
Asserting that road safety is of utmost importance as on average 3 persons die in accidents every day in Himachal Pradesh, Agnihotri said schools and colleges would be given Rs 15,000 and Rs 30,000 for traffic awareness activities. Talks are on to make road safety a part of the school curriculum.
There are about 21.51 lakh vehicles registered in the state of which 18.48 lakh are non-transport vehicles while 3.08 are transport vehicles. The annual growth of vehicles in the state is about 15 per cent.
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