BENGALURU: With the budget proposing to simplify the Karnataka Motor Vehicle Tax through an amendment, the current tax levied on certain categories of vehicles is set to be revised. Officials from the transport department revealed that the hike would be applicable only to commercial goods vehicles and not to personal vehicles.
“The tax hike will not happen immediately, the Karnataka Motor Vehicle Tax Bill has to be first tabled and passed in legislature,” the source added.
While the budget presented by former CM Basavaraj Bommai had set a revenue collection target of Rs 10,500 crore for 2023-24 for the Transport department, Siddaramaiah’s budget has hiked the target by Rs 1,000 crore to Rs 11,500 crore, and sources maintain that the hike will mop up revenue for the guarantee schemes.
In his budget speech, Chief Minister Siddaramaiah said the Shakti scheme has given wings to the dreams and aspirations of working women and girl students. “Since the implementation of this guarantee, more than 13 crore tickets have been issued and approximately 50-60 lakh women make use of this facility every day. Annual expenditure of Rs 4,000 crore is estimated on account of the Shakti scheme,” Siddaramaiah said.
While there were no announcements in the budget for the Shakti scheme, Siddaramaiah told the media that Rs 2,800 crore has been provided for the current financial year. The budget proposes to undertake road safety works by providing separate grants to the Transport, Police, Health and Family Welfare and Public Works Departments under the Karnataka State Road Safety Fund, for which Rs 450 crore will be provided. An action plan will be implemented at a cost of Rs 35 crore, using funds available under Green Tax Fund. The Budget also announced the setting up of a well-equipped regional motor driving training centre for women at Bidadi, Ramanagara, under the Public Private Partnership model, with assistance of Rs 5 crore from the government.
While the budget did not have any allocations for bus corporations, the internal and external budgetary resources 2023-24 document showed that Karnataka State Road Transport Corporation has been allocated Rs 190 crore, Kalyana Karnataka Road Transport Corporation Rs 236 crore and North Western Karnataka Road Transport Corporation Rs 200 crore, while there is no mention of Bangalore Metropolitan Transport Corporation.