RTO officers on night shift to meet target

“It will also tighten the grip as maximum tax evasion takes places during the night,” Kapoor said.

The department has 45 deputy regional transport officers across the state. Apart from issuing driving licences,these officials also shoulder responsibilities alongside the traffic police and have to conduct verification of necessary papers like the national permit,collect vehicle tax,road tax,and fines in case of excessive luggage; check technical defects in vehicles like speedometer and reflectors.

The RTOs can also take action against private transporters for carrying more commuters than their prescribed capacity.

“We do conduct night raids and it is not unusual as tax evasion is maximum during the night. But it is a big expectation that RTOs doing the night shift will meet the target as they only have one quarter left and the economic slump has certainly affected the revenues,” a deputy RTO said.

Last year,the department had a target of Rs 2,140 crore. From April 2008 till date,the department has collected taxes worth Rs 1,622 crore.

“Till December 15,2007,the revenue collection was Rs 1,446 crore. Till December 15,2008,we have managed to recover Rs 1,525 crore despite fewer registrations. That is Rs 80 crore more than the previous year,” Kapoor said. “We have recovered arrears which were pending since last few years,so even that made a difference.”

The slump in registration of vehicles,as reported by Newsline on December 21,by almost 10 to 15 per cent has affected the RTO revenues,which is a major source of income for the state’s exchequer. “The vehicle registration in this fiscal has been low. Till October-November,the registrations were low; it slowly picked up pace by mid-December,but now it has again gone down,” Kapoor said.