MACHILIPATNAM: A delegation of tourist bus operators from Vizianagaram and Visakhapatnam districts called on Transport Minister Perni Venkataramaiah at his office, Machilipatnam on Wednesday. The operators urged the minister to provide an exemption for them of paying the third quarterly tax (July-September 2020)
On the occasion, the operators informed the minister that for the past nine months they are facing several hardships due to lack of operations and confined themselves to stay at home due to COVID-19. “With the pandemic it has become a tough task to meet our livelihood, besides paying monthly installments to the financial companies and banks. In such a situation, the government has been pressurising the operators to pay the quarterly tax,” they said.
As per guidelines, each tourist bus operator should pay Rs 3,770 per seat as quarterly tax to the State government.“Even if the buses plied or stayed away from the roads, we are forced to pay the quarterly tax to the government. Already the transport sector is reeling under crisis and the operators incurred huge losses due to lack of business. Considering the plight of the private bus operators, Karnataka and Telangana have cancelled the two quarterly tax installments, providing a respite to the operators. Steps should be taken by the government in replicating the same in the State to benefit the operators,” V Ravindra, proprietor of Ravindra Tours and Travels, said.