Hyderabad: The reorganisation of districts has increased the revenue of the government’s transport department.
As against the target of Rs 1,788.86 crore, the department has earned Rs 1,784.99 crore in the first half of the current financial year through quarterly tax, life tax, service fee, service charges and better enforcement. Localities, that were considered remote and backward areas in the old 10 districts, exceeded the targets after new districts were formed.
Mahbubnagar district was unable to reach its target before the state was bifurcated, but after the division, two of the three new districts — Mahbubnagar and Jogulamba-Gadwal — have exceeded their targets while the third one, Wanaparthy, has not.
The biggest revenue source in the transport department, Hyderabad district, is the third highest revenue earner.
Mahbubnagar district transport officer (DTO) G. Mamatha Prasad said that the district’s target of Rs 31.9 crore was exceeded by Rs 5.5 crore by earning Rs 37.4 crore.
“We have taken up special drives against illegal vehicles and vehicles violating rules. That, and the increase in life tax, led to top position for Mahbubnagar district,” she said.
Jogulamba-Gadwal DTO G. Lakshmi said that awareness programmes in rural areas of the district made it the second highest revenue earner.
“Gadwal was a backward locality before the reorganisation of districts. There were only 31,125 driving licence holders in the district before the formation of Jogulamba-Gadwal district. Most of these were two-wheeler licences (14,945). We identified during special drives that a majority of drivers did not have licences and feared they would have to pay middle men to get one. To overcome this situation, we visited rural areas and villages to create awareness among vehicle owners of the necessity of driving licences and organised driving licence melas, which led to the issuing of 11,825 new driving licences in just one year.
“Similarly, we identified rural people who had not registered their vehicles. In just one year, we registered 13,468 vehicles. Besides enforcement, we exceeded our revenue target with collection of life tax, quarterly tax, service charges and service fee,” she said. Other newly formed districts have achieved their targets in a similar manner, with 37 enforcement teams in 31 districts against 16 in the old 10 districts.
