VIJAYAWADA: The labour and transport departments have directed the owners of around 1.30 lakh transport vehicles, including buses and trucks, to register their vehicles with the labour department on or before January 31. For this purpose, the online portals of the two departments have been integrated and registration will be done automatically when a vehicle owner visits the transport office for paying the quarterly tax.
Speaking to reporters here on Monday, labour commissioner Ahmad Nadeem said that in Telangana only 1,247 motor transport undertakings were registered under the Motor Transport Workers Act, 1961 as against the total number of undertakings of around 1.30 lakh. He explained that a motor transport undertaking is the one that is engaged in carrying passengers or goods or both by road for hire or reward, including private carriers.
Once the operators are registered with the labour department, the department can supervise whether the operators have engaged the required number of employees, whether they are paying wages to drivers under the Minimum Wages Act or not. Once the data is available, it will be easy for Provident Fund officials to check whether the operators are paying PF to their employees or not.
The labour commissioner said that tax token would be issued only after tax dues were paid and the valid certificate of registration under Motor Transport Workers Act was produced. The tax token should be displayed on the front side of the vehicle. Without obtaining the tax token, the operators can not ply their buses, trucks or any other vehicle, he said.