Transport vehicles default on Rs 6.89 cr tax in Jagtial

Several transport vehicle owners in Jagtial are operating vehicles avoiding tax payment

Jagtial: It is mandatory to pay a quarterly road tax to operate transport vehicles.

However, despite knowing that a 200 percent penalty would have to be paid for defaulting on tax payment, several transport vehicle owners in the district are operating vehicles avoiding tax payment.

---

According to officials, around 4,000 goods and passenger transport vehicles in the district are operating without paying tax for the last two to three years. The tax to be paid was about Rs.6.89 crore, they said.

According to statistics from the District Transport Office, there were 1,47,758 vehicles, of all categories, in the district. Of them, 21,325 were goods and passenger transport vehicles.

Though it was necessary to pay road tax every three months, owners of 4,000 of these vehicles were not paying tax during the last two to three years, with pending tax and penalty accumulating to Rs.6.89 crore.

Following this, based on instructions from higher officials, Jagtial RTA officials launched a special drive a fortnight ago and collected about Rs.3 crore. With the penalties increasing, the remaining amount as of now is nearly Rs.4 crore, officials said.

The situation had turned worse with the Covid-19 pandemic, when the government allowed late payment of tax. However, vehicle owners who stopped paying then, continued with the non-payment and this, coupled with no strict vehicle checking taken up during the last few years, aggravated the situation.

Staff shortage was one reason cited for lack of checking, with officials saying that a majority of inspectors went on deputation to check-posts. In the wake of piling up of tax dues, higher officials recently cancelled all deputations and brought the inspectors back to their original postings, sources said.

Speaking to Telangana Today, District Transport Officer A Shyam Naik said as part of a state-wide special drive to collect pending taxes, the department was now cracking down on defaulters.

Besides seizing default vehicles, a 200 percent penalty was also being imposed, expressing confidence that the entire pending tax would be recovered soon.