Hyderabad: The Telangana State Cabs and Bus Operators Association (TSCBOA) on Thursday demanded rationalization of road tax to ply buses for the IT industry in the city.
According to TSCBOA president Syed Nizamuddin, the re-organisation of districts has increased financial burden on the bus operators who are now required to take State permit to ply their vehicles in the Hi-Tech city.
“Despite the bifurcation of Andhra Pradesh and formation of Telangana State, the State Government continued with the system of permits and tax slabs of Rs 892.50 for Single district, Rs 1207.50 for two-districts and Rs 2,670 for State permits.
These rates were fixed for the erstwhile undivided Andhra Pradesh with 23 districts. After the formation of Telangana, the tax should have been revised and rationalised in accordance for 10 districts of our State.
However, it was not done and now our State itself has 31 districts which has complicated the situation wherein bus operators are forced to pay multiple taxes to travel on specific routes,” he said in a representation made to Chief Minister K. Chandrashekar Rao, Transport Minister Mahender Reddy and Transport Commissioner.
The TSCBOA president demanded that the government should introduce common tax for the entire State or at least the GHMC limits. Earlier, the operators serving the IT sector in GHMC limits used to pay road tax for Hyderabad and Ranga Reddy districts.
After re-organisation of districts in October this year, they are forced to pay road tax for Hyderabad, Ranga Reddy, Medchal, Malkajgiri and Medak districts.
Syed Nizamuddin said that the decision has badly affected the operators’ revenues and hit the growth prospects of entire industry.
“Our city has grown manifold and therefore, the collection of separate taxes for Hyderabad and adjacent districts is completely illogical,” he said.
The TSCBOA leader said that there was a huge leakage of revenue in PSV Tax (company-owned vehicles).
This leakage can be plugged by introducing a common tax for all vehicles (contract carriage) and by fixing a common tax for the entire State.
There can be only two slabs – Single District and State-Level Tax. While the tax for single district can be Rs. 600/-, for more than one district it can be Rs. 1200, he advised.
Syed Nizamuddin also demanded the introduction of online issuance of road permits. This will help the bus operators to move freely and take the passengers to their destinations, especially during emergencies, he said. (INN)