Karnataka will lose money with 'one nation one road tax': Laxman Savadi

With the Nitin Gadkari-led Transport Ministry looking to get states on board for a nationwide uniform road tax on personal vehicles, Deputy Chief Minister Laxman Savadi on Tuesday said the move could result in Karnataka losing Rs 1,000 crore.

Speaking to mediapersons, Savadi, who is the transport minister, said the state government was going through the Centre’s ‘one nation-one road tax’ plan.

While the Centre’s intention is to make tax uniform as there are several cases where people buying high-end vehicles get it registered in states with a lower fee, if such a move were to be implemented, the state would suffer financial losses, Savadi said. At present, there are three slabs of taxation for vehicles in the state (16%, 18% and 20%), he pointed out.

Savadi said the chief minister has directed the Transport department to constitute a committee to decide on the long-pending pleas of KSRTC and BMTC employees to be considered as government employees. There are about 1.3 lakh drivers and conductors working in these corporations put together.

The government has also decided to buy 1,200 buses. of which 356 will be for BMTC, 558 for KSRTC, 226 for NEKRTC and the rest for others, according to Savadi.

MSP for crops

The government has decided to provide minimum support price of Rs 200 for a quintal of paddy, groundnuts, ragi and jowar, apart from Rs 300 for tur dal, Savadi said. The quantity of crops for MSP will be limited to 10 quintal for tur dal, 50 quintal for ragi, 40 for paddy, the minister said.