Achieve tax collection targets: CM tells officials

Hyderabad: Chief Minister A Revanth Reddy has directed all the revenue generating departments to achieve the annual target set in the tax collections.

The Chief Minister held a review meeting with officials of Commercial Taxes, Excise, Registrations, Transport, Mines and Mineral departments and discussed the possibility of enhancing revenue for the year 2023-24 at Dr. BR Ambedkar Secretariat here on Monday.

On the occasion, the Chief Minister questioned the big gap between the targets set by the government and revenue generation from the Commercial Taxes department.

Officials informed the Chief Minister that till last year, the Union Government had not paid more than Rs.4,000 crore under the GST compensation and the Gap in revenues was clearly visible due to non-receipt of those funds from the Centre even after the deadline ends.

The Chief Minister ordered to stop the supply of Non-Duty Paid Liquor (NDPL) in Telangana from neighboring States.

Revanth Reddy suggested to the officials to take stringent action following the reports of variations in the computation between the supply and sale of liquor.

State Excise and Prohibition officials have been asked to install CCTV cameras at every distillery and the liquor delivery vehicles should be equipped with GPS for tracking them. Bottle tracking system and waybills for the liquor supply vehicles should also be maintained accurately, Revanth Reddy said.

He also directed the officials to submit a report on the progress of several cases registered in the past along with non-duty paid liquor.

While reviewing the performance of the state Stamps and Registration department, officials informed the Chief Minister that the offices of the Sub-Registrar and the District Registration offices are functioning in the  hired buildings.

Commissioner of Commercial Taxes Department Dr. TK Sridevi also brought to the notice of the Chief Minister that the same situation prevailed in her department. The Chief Minister felt it is not good for the revenue generating departments to not have their own buildings. He directed the officials to prepare proposals for the construction of new buildings for the present requirements.

The Chief Minister suggested to the officials to utilize the vacant government buildings in Hyderabad and district headquarters as per the requirements. 

The officials were also directed to find suitable government lands for Gravel selling points in Hyderabad in the wake of growing sale counters at many places in the city.    

Revanth Reddy ordered the officials to formulate a comprehensive Sand Policy for sales. Along with Waybills, the chief minister suggested that there should be tracking of sand transport vehicles and curb the illegal transportation.

He reminded that fines have been imposed on many Mines in the past and cases have been registered for violating the rules. The officials have been asked to collect the fine amount immediately.

The Chief Minister also instructed the officials to submit a report on the reasons for reducing the fine amount in some cases.

Revanth Reddy is serious that many officials in the TSMDC and the Mines Department have been languishing in the same post for years and some of them are facing allegations. He ordered the transfer of the long serving officials in the same post and place immediately.

Deputy Chief Minister Mallu Bhatti Vikramarka, State Revenue Minister Ponguleti Srinivas Reddy, Chief Secretary Santhi Kumari and senior officials of the respective departments participated in the review.