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Plan for cashless transactions likely to go for a toss
The professed efforts being made by the State government to put Telangana State on the fast track of switching to cashless transactions seem to have hit a road block as the Commercial Taxes Department, tasked with creating awareness among traders and installing PoS (Point of Sale) machines, is reeling under acute staff crunch.
Hyderabad: The professed efforts being made by the State government to put Telangana State on the fast track of switching to cashless transactions seem to have hit a road block as the Commercial Taxes Department, tasked with creating awareness among traders and installing PoS (Point of Sale) machines, is reeling under acute staff crunch.  This could result in the slowing down of the implementation of the scheme.
The department, according to sources, has been facing this problem for the past two years and demonetisation has only put additional burden on it.
Officials told The Hans India that, upon bifurcation of Andhra Pradesh, Telangana State had been left with only 40 CTOs (Commercial Tax Officers) as against the requirement of 140.
Similarly, there are only 17 Assistant Commissioners, though 25 are required. Only eight Deputy Commissioners available are available, against the requirement for 17. Several posts in the ranks of Joint Commissioners and Additional Commissioners are still vacant.
The department, sources said, had 288 sanctioned posts of CTOs, 73 assistant commissioners, 42 deputy commissioners, eight joint commissioners and four additional commissioners. The notification to fill the vacancies was pending. In this backdrop, the department, according to officials, is struggling to implement the massive drive to introduce digital transactions in all trades.
The government, following demonetisation, had sent several circulars and has made it clear that the process should be speeded up. To overcome the crisis, the department is now considering a proposal to utilise the services of retired staff, resort to outsourcing, and try to work in close coordination and cooperation with other departments to accomplish the task.
The sources said that in the wake of the problems they were facing, Chief Minister K Chandrashekar Rao had asked the department to conduct a meeting with Revenue, Excise and Transport Departments and prepare a plan of action to implement the e-cash scheme in coordination with other government wings.
By V Ramu Sarma
