HYDERABAD – NALGONDA: Telangana State Road Transport Authority officials began collecting new Motor Vehicle entry tax for vehicles entering the State from Tuesday midnight at all the 14 check posts.
In wake of private bus operators taking their vehicles off the roads in protest against the new entry tax, flow of traffic on the major arterial highways including NH – 65 (Hyderabad-Vijayawada), NH – 44 (Hyderabad-Bengaluru) came down a bit.
However, reports suggested that vehicles coming from Andhra Pradesh were paying temporary tax for a week in anticipation of the issue being settled shortly. Many vehicle owners are paying tax for just one week to operate their vehicles without any interruption between the two states. But some big time bus operators were paying the quarterly tax.
The move to levy the MV Tax for other State vehicles was stipulated in Government of Telangana’s G.O. MS. No. 15 that was issued on Monday and came into effect from midnight of March 31 which is the time frame set by the earlier G.O. Ms. 43 issued by Governor on June 1, 2014.
Some Private buses off road
Speaking to The Hindu, Deputy Transport Commissioner, Nalgonda, M. Chandrashekar Goud said they have started the tax collection from midnight onwards on Wednesday. Though operation of private buses has come down, Mr. Chandrasekhar said that rest of vehicles were plying without any hindrance.
However, he said that most of the vehicle users were paying short-term tax to enter Telangana. There are three check posts between Andhra Pradesh and Telangana in Nalgonda district which has the longest border with AP.
The vehicles coming from Vijayawada and others parts of A.P. enter Telangana near Kodad where the Transport officials have made arrangements to collect the tax. Since the Transport Department appointed sufficient staff there was not much of waiting time. At any given point of time only 15 to 20 vehicles were waiting at the check posts at Kodad.
Vehicles coming from Guntur, Prakasam districts enter Telangana at Damarcherla where the Telangana Government set up a check post. Another check posts was also set up at Nagarjunasagar.
As of now, the Transport officials have collected Rs. 50 lakh from vehicle owners at Kodad, Rs. 15 lakh at Damarcherla check post and just Rs.1 lakh at Nagarjunasagar. Situation was peaceful at all the three check posts since no one has staged any kind of protest from Andhra Pradesh side of the border.
750 buses run daily
According to officials about 750 buses including APSRTC and private buses are being operated between the two states every day. As many as 300 buses are being operated from Vijayawada to Hyderabad alone. An estimated 30,000 people visit Hyderabad from Andhra Pradesh every day. Meanwhile, on an average 30,000 vehicles travels on NH-65, that connects Hyderabad with Vijayawada, every month.
Two buses stopped
A Nizamabad report said two private buses could not enter Telangana State through Salabathpur inter-state check post on account of non-payment of entry tax.
When contacted, Vijayawada MP Kesineni Nani, who owns Kesineni Travels, said that he had paid up the fresh tax for all of his 100 vehicles that run on different routes and enter Telangana through different checkposts. “I have always said, customers should not be troubled and hence never even entertained the idea of keeping my buses off the road,” he stated.
Asked about how much money was collected since Tuesday midnight, Transport Department officials said each bus was paying slightly over Rs.1 lakh. The collection could be between Rs. 2 and Rs. 3 crore by Wednesday afternoon.
In the meantime, private bus operators have moved the High Court of Hyderabad seeking relief from the G.O. issued by Telangana Government. Three separate petitions were filed in the court challenging the decision to impose quarterly tax on the private buses and lorries. The petitions are expected to be taken up later in the day.