The Pune Cantonment Board (PCB) has received five applications after it reinvited tenders for contracts for collection of Vehicle Entry Tax (VET) from 13 tollbooths in its jurisdiction. The board had decided to invite fresh applications in the last board meeting after it rejected the existing tender citing that the bid amount of Rs 4.5 crore quoted was low and did not meet the expectation of the board. The applications received will be scrutinised and the issue is likely to come up in the board meeting scheduled on Thursday. The board has been incurring losses daily after 18 employees of a private contractor were arrested in September last year for overcharging commercial vehicles using fake receipts. From October,the PCB staff have been collecting the VET. Now,36 attendants,19 security guards and 44 staffs are deputed by PCB to work in 12-hour shift in 13 collection points. The expenditure for this includes staffs salary and printing of tickets. According to the PCB,the gross income by way of VET for the period of October 3 to December 2 amounts to Rs 72,77,245. The expenditure incurred for the collection of VET is Rs 23,95,756 bringing the net income to just Rs 48,81,889. In November last year,the Board received the highest bid of Rs 4.5 crore from Nagpur-based Sangamner Loni Infrastructure Pvt Ltd,which was low as compared to the previous contract of Rs 7 crore given to Himani Securities & Alliance for April 1,2008 to March 31,2009. Earlier,Brig Rajbir Singh,president,PCB,had said that the board would streamline the entire VET collection system by installing CCTV cameras and conduct spot checks to stop malpractices. Once a new contactor is appointed,the VET receipts will also be scrutinised on a regular basis. We will also push PCB flying squads to carry out surprise checks. Another plan is to construct a divider on the tollbooths so that heavy vehicles are parked inside the checkpoints and do not disrupt the movement of other vehicles, he said.
