Chandigarh, July 2 – Haryana Transport Minister, Mr. Krishan Lal Panwar said that taking road safety seriously, the State Government has taken an important initiative under which 50 per cent of the amount of money received from the chalans is being spent on road safety.
Transport Minister was addressing a press conference here today after presiding over a meeting regarding the Harmonization of Motor Vehicle Tax, signing the Reciprocal Common Transport Agreement and equal rate of tax on vehicles in states concerned being used for private purposes, with the Transport Ministers and Senior Officers of Northern States namely Haryana, Punjab, Union Territory of Chandigarh, National Capital Territory of Delhi, Himachal Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Rajasthan and Jammu and Kashmir. The Transport Ministers of states who took part in the meeting included Mr. Swatantra Dev Singh from Uttar Pradesh, Ms. Razia Sultana from Punjab, Mr. Govind Singh Thakur from Himachal Pradesh and Mr. Kailash Gehlot from Delhi.
While expressing gratitude to the Transport Ministers and Senior Officers of various northern states, Mr. Panwar said that in today's meeting many important suggestions have been received from fellow ministers. He said that the similar GST has increased business in all the states. Similarly, tax related to transport should be similar, because the chances of tax evasion increases when neighbouring states have low tax rates, which leads to loss of all the states. He said that the issues that have been discussed in today's meeting will be considered in respective states and a meeting will soon be held in this regard in Delhi.
He said that in the year 1986, an agreement was signed to increase transportation facilities in Uttar Pradesh and Haryana, which has been implemented with the relentless efforts of Haryana Chief Minister, Mr. Manohar Lal and Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister, Yogi Adityanath. Under this agreement, Uttar Pradesh buses will ply 50,000 kilometers per day in Haryana and Haryana buses will ply 60,000 kilometers in Uttar Pradesh.
The Transport Minister said that the ministers and officials involved in the meeting have suggested that promotion of public transport is the need of hour as the number of passengers traveling by nine cars can travel in a single bus. It is not only for the benefit of people but also for the environment. He said that more and more people can take advantage of the public transport service, therefore, it is necessary to reduce the passenger tax and increase facilities in public transport.
Replying to a question regarding road safety, the Transport Minister said that CCTV cameras have been installed at stretch of 30 kms on state highways in the state. NGOs have been included in the road safety campaign and white strips have been made on the state highways. Apart from this, speed governors are being installed in all the buses. He said that the Principals of the schools and colleges have been authorized to issue a learning license to the students studying in their schools and colleges.
While replying to the questions of media persons, the Additional Chief Secretary, Transport Department, Mr. Dhanpat Singh said that in today's meeting, mainly the Harmonization of Motor Vehicle Taxes, signing the Reciprocal Common Transport Agreement and taxes related to passenger and freight vehicles operated under the Reciprocal Common Transport Agreement were discussed. He said that in the meeting of Union Road Transport and Highways Ministry in Guwahati on April 19, 2018, the ministerial group recommended adoption of lump sum tax on motor vehicles for 15 years. He said that in today's meeting, it has been suggested to create separate slabs for the public with a price of up to Rs six lakh. Electric vehicles have been made tax-free in states namely Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand and Chandigarh.
In the meeting, Transport Ministers namely Mr. Swatantra Dev Singh, Ms. Razia Sultana, Mr. Govind Singh Thakur and Mr. Kailash Gehlot mentioned various schemes being run in their respective states and gave many suggestions.