Avtar Bhat
JAMMU, June 3: There has been no headway in outsourcing of Toll Plaza at Lakhanpur as was announced by Finance Minister, Haseeb Drabu while presenting the annual budget for 2015-16 in State Assembly.
The Finance Minister while presenting the budget had declared that the Toll Plaza will be outsourced from April this year but there is no progress in this regard till date.
While the officers of Excise Department said that it is a policy decision of the Government and so far they have not received any thing in black and white and their role is limited in this regard. On the other hand the Government has not made any formal exercise in this manner which shows that the decision may likely be shelved.
According to highly placed sources, the outsourcing of Toll Plaza is an intricate issue and Government is facing many problems in implementation of the decision on ground. Besides, there is no leakage via Toll Plaza of Lakhanpur as every vehicle which passes through the bridge has to deposit the Toll Tax, sources added.
Sources said the Toll Plaza, Lakhanpur is fitted with CC T Vs and it is equipped with computers and other latest machinery and it is not possible for any vehicle to escape without paying Toll Tax. In case any vehicle dares to cross the Toll Post it will be caught on the cameras fitted before the DC Excise and other officers. The information can be passed on and the vehicle can be traced any where on the National Highway, sources added.
Maintaining that it is an intricate issue, sources said Excise and Sales Tax are interlinked and outsourcing of Toll Plaza can’t be possible in this way. As after outsourcing the Toll Plaza the private party will think of its own interest and not of the State and it will not pass on information to the Sales Tax or other allied departments, sources added.
Maintaining that there is no leakage at Lakhapur Toll Post, sources said every vehicle passing via the bridge pays the Toll. However the vigil needs to be maintained over the vehicles which enter into State via Nagri Parole avoiding Lakhanpur Toll Post, sources added.
Sources said to control illegal import of material and goods via Ravi the Nagri Parole Toll Post needs to be strengthened in this regard. This will go a long way in checking the pilferages and help in generating more revenue instead of privatization of Toll Post Lakhanpur, sources added.
When contacted, Minister of State for Finance and Information Technology Pawan Gupta said that there needs to be total integration between the Excise, Sales Tax and Commercial Tax to over come the pilferages. He made it clear that outsourcing will not make any difference and more thrust needs to be given to check the import of goods via Ravi and Nagri Parole Toll Post needs to be strengthened in this regard.
Mr Gupta said during his recent meeting with officers he gave instructions on strengthening the Nagri Parole Toll post to check pilferages.
Even the Chamber of Commerce and Industries have voiced concern over the move of outsourcing the Toll Plazas at Lakhanpur and Lower Manda and demanded that the contract for Lakhanpur be given to Chamber of Commerce Jammu and for Lower Manda Toll Plaza be given to Chamber of Commerce Kashmir instead of business community members outside from State.
President Chamber of Commerce and Industries Jammu Rakesh Gupta said that Finance Minister had made an announcement regarding outsourcing of Toll Plaza during his budget speech but the decision is pending as yet. He said if Government goes ahead with the decision of outsourcing it instead of calling bidders from outside the State it should allot the same to Chamber of Commerce and Industries Jammu and Kashmir also.
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