Hyderabad: Rs 60 lakh fines on buses in one night

Hyderabad: The Road Transport Authority earned nearly Rs 60 lakh in revenue overnight for the first time by conducting surprise raids on private travel companies.

The raids were conducted at five locations in the city, and 14 buses which were plying without paying taxes were seized — this contributed to a majority of the penalty amount.

As many as 350 private buses were inspected between 10 pm and 6 am by five teams in the city, mostly on the popular routes to Vijayawada and Bengaluru, where the buses are usually full. All 14 buses that were seized were fined a 200 per cent penalty, a transport official said.

As per Section 8 of the Taxation Act, contract buses have to pay taxes every quarter at Rs 3,675 per seat. If they fail to comply and are held during inspection within a month after the deadline, then such violators have to pay 50 per cent of the total payable amount in penalty. In the second month after the deadline, the penalty is increased to 100 per cent, and in the third month to 200 per cent.

The raids conducted on Friday, which happened to be three months after the deadline, cost the violator travel companies a great deal with the 200 per cent penalty imposed on them for non-payment of taxes. Consequently, the RTA collected up to three times the expected revenue.

Other than non-payment of taxes, buses were fined for plying without permits and for inadequate/no fire safety measures. Some buses were also fined for carrying more people than they were permitted to carry.  

Mr K. Papa Rao, deputy transport commissioner (DTC), vigilance and enforcement, said, :Buses in the city have been plying without paying taxes, thereby causing loss to the state's exchequer. This will not be tolerated any further.”

The department also warned all the vehicle owners, both transport and non-transport, to pay their taxes on time so as to keep the department from seizing their vehicles.

Such raids are usually undertaken during festivals when private travel companies deploy a large number of buses and also violate rules by indulging in overloading etc. Friday’s raid, coming as the school holidays are ending, may have come as a surprise to many transport companies.