Telangana’s vehicle entry tax move hits AP vehicles

Hyderabad: Traffic movement from AP districts into Telangana was extremely low on Wednesday with only a quarter of vehicles plying. Meanwhile close to Rs 1.05 crore was collected from AP vehicles entering Telangana since Tuesday midnight to Wednesday afternoon.

The private bus operators’ association has approached the High Court on the issue and has filed a fresh PIL (Public Interest Litigation) to stop the TS government’s move of collecting quarterly tax from AP vehicles and the court has sanctioned a seven-day period for them to be allowed without tax (after giving an indemnity bond). A final decision will be taken later.

The AP government is meanwhile is trying to assess and analyse the extent of repercussions of the Telangana government’s decision. The number of vehicles from Andhra Pradesh coming into Telangana each day has not been estimated yet.

Read: Telangana starts levying entry tax on AP vehicles

“We are trying to estimate the repercussions of this new tax imposed on AP vehicles as well as the number of AP vehicles passing the border check-posts daily. After the assessment is made, the AP government will take a decision on the issue,” said AP joint transport commissioner Sav Prasad Yadav.

Meanwhile, almost all border check-posts between the two states saw a dip in the number of vehicles from Tuesday night, as the Telangana governments’ new tax regime on Andhra Pradesh vehicles kicked in.

“Buses, lorries and even private vehicles have remained off the road since Tuesday night itself. Traffic has been very poor and only national permit vehicles have been seen. There has been some movement of goods vehicles as they can pay for either each trip or for a month and therefore it is not a compulsory for them to pay three months’ tax. Also, movement of goods cannot completely stop as essential items are required to be transported and therefore partial movement of goods vehicles is there,” said Mr K. Srinivas Rao MVI, Nalgonda.

Around 200 vehicles used to cross Aswaraopet check post every night, but only 50 crossed on Tuesday night.

“The number of nighttime buses from Vishakhapatnam to Hyderabad came down to zero on Tuesday night and Wednesday,” said Deputy Transport Commissioner, Khammam, Mr Chandrashekhar Goud.