Nod to waive various motor vehicle taxes to ease woes of bus operators
Kolkata: The Mamata Banerjee government on Thursday waived motor vehicles tax, route permit fees and additional tax for private buses and mini-buses with the aim to provide relief to their owners and operators and helping them to operate the same without facing losses at this critical time.
The decision to waive the taxes has been announced by the state Home secretary Alapan Bandyopadhyay after the cabinet gave its nod in this connection.
The tax as per the West Bengal Motor Vehicles Act 1979 for non-air-conditioned private and mini-buses has been waived from April 1 to September 30. Similarly, the additional tax on the same has also been waived off and bus operators will also not have to pay the route permit fees for this year.
Bandyopadhyay has also announced that one who wants to avail the benefit of tax waiver scheme will have to clear the same for the period till March 31, in case it is pending. It has to be cleared by August 31. The state government has also decided to waive the penalty on the pending tax.
The Home secretary further said: " It will bring relief in the transport sector."
According to the sources in the state Transport department, the tax for a private bus is around Rs 1,700 per quarter and it varies between Rs 1300 to Rs 1400 per quarter for a mini-bus. There is no additional tax for private buses and mini-buses. For inter-district express buses the total tax that also includes the additional one stands at around Rs 4200 per quarter. While a bus operator needs to pay minimum Rs 5000 as route permit fees a year.
At present there are around 42,000 private buses in the state including 7,000 in Kolkata and there are around 700 mini-buses. But in the present scenario of COVID-19, only 25 to 30 percent buses are operating, apprehending heavy
losses. The state government had allowed plying of private and mini-buses with passengers following the norms of physical distancing. Initially, buses were allowed to ply with maximum 20 passengers. The bus owners and operators had approached the state government stating that they were incurring heavy losses by operating the vehicles with so less number of passengers. Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee had announced financial assistance of Rs 15,000 per month to 6000 buses that mainly operate in Kolkata and its surrounding areas. But the bus operators had appealed for tax waiver instead of financial assistance. So the state government decided to waive taxes by withdrawing the financial assistance scheme.
Welcoming the step, Tapan Banerjee, general secretary of Joint Council of Bus Syndicates, said: "It will help us in operating the buses. We had also urged the Centre to give relief on monthly EMIs for the buses. But yet to get any response in this regard."
He, however, did not assure operation of all private buses from Friday stating that they will not get sufficient passengers until and unless trains services resumes.
Banerjee has also taken a dig at the Centre for not releasing the GST compensation and no support to fight against COVID-19 when the state is incurring a huge expense for the same.
