Transport dept seeks cut in tax on State buses

The Transport department has sought financial aid from the State government in order to continue the various initiatives introduced for the benefit of passengers.

The department has been going the e-way in the last four years. It has also introduced numerous passenger-friendly initiatives in the various corporations that come under it.

Sources in the department said, “We have asked the government to reduce the motor vehicle tax levied on the Bangalore Metropolitan Transport Corporation (BMTC), Karnataka State Road Transport Corporation (KSRTC), North-Western Karnataka Road Transport Corporation (NWKRTC) and North-Eastern Karnataka Road Transport Corporation (NEKRTC) to two per cent from five per cent.”

An official said that Transport Minister Ramalinga Reddy had already requested the government to include the same in its first budget.

Other dues

The department has sought Rs 450 crore to pay the employees of NWKRTC and clear other dues of the Corporation.

“A special sanction has been sought in the budget, but we will have to wait for the government’s response,” another official said.

The Rs 450-crore financial aid, sources said, is apart from Rs 100 crore that the department has been asking for, to pay the employees of KSRTC, NEKRTC and BMTC.

Sources, while pointing out that NWKRTC’s e-SMART (Sahaya Hasta) project, the first of its kind, will go a long way in addressing the various shortcomings it has been battling over the years, said that the department plans to introduce for the first time in the country local bus service in as many as 28 tier-II and III cities.

“We have sought financial aid for the same, that will be in addition to the aid sought from the Centre, as the project is mooted under the Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission (JnNURM) scheme,” an official said.