AP Bus operators pay MV tax for one week

Telangana State Road Transport Authority officials began collecting new Motor Vehicle entry tax for vehicles entering the State from Tuesday midnight at all the 14 check posts.

However, reports suggested that vehicles coming from Andhra Pradesh were paying temporary tax for a week in anticipation of the issue being settled shortly. Many vehicle owners are paying tax for just one week to operate their vehicles without any interruption between the two states. But some big time bus operators were paying the quarterly tax.

The move to levy the MV Tax for other State vehicles was stipulated in Government of Telangana’s GO MS. No. 15 that was issued on Monday and came into effect from midnight of March 31 which is the time frame set by the earlier GO Ms. 43 issued by Governor on June 1, 2014.

In the meantime, private bus operators have moved the High Court of Hyderabad seeking relief from the G.O. issued by Telangana Government. Three separate petitions were filed in the court challenging the decision to impose quarterly tax on the private buses and Lorries. The petitions are expected to be taken up later in the day. Deputy Transport Commissioner, Nalgonda, M. Chandrashekar Goud said they started the tax collection from midnight onwards on Wednesday. Though operation of private buses has come down, rest of vehicles were plying without any hindrance. There are three check posts between Andhra Pradesh and Telangana in Nalgonda district which has the longest border with AP.

Vehicles coming from Guntur, Prakasam districts enter Telangana at Damarcherla where the Telangana Government set up a check post. Another check posts was also set up at Nagarjunasagar. As of now, the Transport officials have collected Rs. 50 lakh from vehicle owners at Kodad, Rs. 15 lakh at Damarcherla check post and just Rs.1 lakh at Nagarjunasagar. Situation was peaceful at all the three check posts since no one has staged any kind of protest from Andhra Pradesh side of the border. Transport Department officials said each bus was paying slightly over Rs.1 lakh. The collection could be between Rs. 2 to Rs. 3 crore by Wednesday afternoon.

According to officials about 750 buses including APSRTC and private buses are being operated between the two states every day. As many as 300 buses are being operated from Vijayawada to Hyderabad alone. An estimated 30,000 people visit Hyderabad from Andhra Pradesh every day. Meanwhile, on an average 30,000 vehicles travels on NH-65, that connects Hyderabad with Vijayawada, every month.