Tuesday, 01 November 2022 | PNS | DEHRADUN
The president of the Dehradun Mahanagar City Bus Seva Mahasangh, Vijay Vardhan Dandriyal has alleged that stage carriage buses operating on the routes of Dehradun to Dakpathar, Vikasnagar and Kalsi have been evading annual road tax of about Rs 55 lakh in connivance with the regional transport office (RTO) of Dehradun.
He said that according to the information received under the Right to Information (RTI) Act, the bus operators of these routes have been evading tax for years in association with the RTO except during the COVID-19 period. He said that these buses usually run on rotation and 115 buses are presently available to run on these routes. Out of these available 115 buses, 107-108 buses usually operate daily on the said routes but on paper, the union of these buses have shown to the transport department that only 67 buses operate on a daily basis, stated Dandriyal. He said that even in 1999, only 67 buses were shown to be running on the said routes but the transport department later found out in an inspection that 88 buses were being operated daily.
Dandriyal said that the operation of about 40 buses is not shown on paper for years which has caused a revenue loss of Rs 50-55 lakh annually to the State government. He said that he had recently written to the State finance minister regarding this tax fraud who has now directed the RTO through the Dehradun district magistrate to take necessary action on the matter. The RTO will hopefully take necessary steps to recover the tax from these bus operators rather than providing them protection in the matter, added Dandriyal.
