Telangana Chief Minister A. Revanth Reddy has directed the revenue earning departments to take steps to achieve the targets of tax collections set for the financial year 2023-24.
The Chief Minister reviewed the progress of tax collections by Commercial Taxes, Excise, Registration & Stamps, Transport and Mines and Geology departments with senior officials on Monday. He pointed out that there was significant gap between the targets set for the Commercial Taxes department and the actuals realised so far and wanted to know about the reasons for such huge gap.
Officials explained to the Chief Minister that the Central Government reimbursed ₹4,000 crore under the GST compensation till last year, but the amount was not reimbursed as the time period for the compensation payment had expired resulting in the difference. Mr. Revanth Reddy directed the officials to take steps to see that non-duty-paid liquor from the neighbouring states is not brought into Telangana.
He expressed concern over the variation in figures pertaining to liquor supply and sale and instructed the officials concerned to be more cautious to ensure that such variation did not recur. Officials should take steps to install CCTV cameras at every distillery as well as GPS on vehicles carrying liquor for tracking their movement.
In addition, a bottle tracking system should be put in place at the manufacturing stage itself. Mr. Revanth Reddy sought comprehensive reports on the progress relating to cases registered by the Excise department including those pertaining to transport of non-duty paid liquor.
During the review of the Registration and Stamps Department, officials brought to the notice of the Chief Minister that sub-registrar and district registrar offices in some districts were functioning from rented premises. Commercial Taxes Commissioner T.K. Sridevi said the same was the case with her department too.
Mr. Revanth Reddy said it was not appropriate for the revenue earning departments to function from rented premises and asked the officials to prepare reports relating to the construction of their own buildings for these offices. Officials were asked to utilise the vacant Government buildings in the State Capital and in districts for accommodating the offices of the revenue earning departments.
He was also concerned that granite stocks were seen on the highways around Greater Hyderabad and other urban centres and directed the officials to utilise vacant government lands for the purpose. The Chief Minister wanted a comprehensive policy to be evolved for the sale of sand. Vehicles transporting sand should be equipped with GPS tracking systems in addition to ensuring payment of way bills and steps should be taken to see that there was no illegal transport of sand.
He recalled that penalties were levied on several mines for violating rules in the past and cases were registered. Steps should be taken to collect the penalties with immediate effect. He enquired as to why the penalties in some cases were reduced significantly and wanted a report on the issue to be submitted.
Mr. Revanth Reddy wondered why several officials of the TSMDC and Mines department were continuing in the same posts for years together and directed the officials concerned to take steps to transfer them forthwith.
