Visakhapatnam: The Road Transport Authority (RTA) in Vizag region has achieved 95 per of its revenue target in the just concluded fiscal 2016-17, despite the demonetisation drive (scrapping currency notes of Rs 1,000 and Rs 500 denominations in November 2016). The officials of RTA, Vizag, have collected Rs 304 crore (95 per cent) against the targeted revenue of Rs 320 crore. The main revenue sources for the RTA included lifetime tax, quarterly tax, registration fee, fancy numbers and also compounding fines.
“In the last fiscal, we have collected Rs 177 crore through lifetime tax, Rs 62.3 crore as quarterly tax and Rs 21.63 crore only through imposing fines on violators,” said deputy transport commissioner, Vizag, S. Venkates-wara Rao. Vizag region RTA has collected Rs 262 (107 per cent) crore against the target revenue of Rs 253 crore in 2015-16 and we are expecting that Vizag RTA will reach or exceed its revenue target in the current fiscal, he added.
Sources in RTA said that the sale of luxury cars has declined following the demonetisation drive, hence RTA revenue also decreased in terms of life tax and other taxes. Over 13 lakh vehicles were registered with Vizag RTA and on an average nearly 30,000 to 50,000 new vehicles are registered every year. A senior officer with RTA, on condition of anonymity, said that that for government it seems to be revenue earned to ensure safety but the RTA employees are working under pressure on how to meet the revenue targets. Every year the government is increasing the revenue target by 15 per cent hence most of the motor vehicle inspectors have been on the job to impose fines to reach the target, he added.
