T M Thomas Isaac to revive Walayar Mission

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Finance minister Dr T.M. Thomas Isaac, as part of efforts to plug massive tax leakage, will revive Corruption-Free Walayar Mission right after presenting his ‘alteration memorandum’ on July 4. The revival of the corruption-free mission in the state’s major check posts, including Walayar in Palakkad and Amaravila in Thiruvananthapuram, is expected to be one of the major announcements on July 4.

Corruption-Free Walayar, which Isaac launched in 2007, proved to be a huge success. It virtually weeded out corruption from the check post, through which more than half the goods from outside the state are transported. Isaac removed officials entrenched in the area and posted handpicked ones.

“Isaac’s biggest victory was in instilling a sense of pride in these officials. They saw themselves as crusaders,” a top Finance Department official said. Simultaneously, Isaac put in place checks to restrict the entry of middlemen and brokers, and also drew up a priority list for vehicular movement. Isaac had even conducted monthly social audits at the check posts to measure the change.  

However, the upgradation of the physical infrastructure in Walayar could not be carried out. The finance minister has asked the Commissioner of Commercial Taxes, Rajan Khobragade, to submit a detailed proposal for modernization and automated system to have Data Collection and Facilitation Centers. Precise data is the key to end tax avoidance, Isaac said.

The minister’s objective is to raise the growth in tax rate to 20 percent. There has been down trend in tax collection in the previous years. “The growth was 20 percent and 19 percent in 2011-12 and 2012-13 respectively. This has come down to 12 percent in the last financial year,” Dr Isaac said.