Uttarakhand: Additional Chief Secretary Finance Anand Bardhan reviewed the revenue receipts of State Tax, Stamp and Registration, Excise, Mining, Forest, Transport and Energy Department

Additional Chief Secretary Finance Anand Bardhan reviewed the revenue receipts of State Tax, Stamp and Registration, Excise, Mining, Forest, Transport and Energy Departments. In the meeting, the officers of the Mining Department were instructed to apply in time for renewal of expiring Leases and Clearances etc. and to conduct surveys for the possibility of additional mining in new areas, upload all the cases on PM Gati Shakti Portal, issue Mining Plan and Timeline of related approvals by Mining Directorate, apply EC immediately in necessary cases and hold a review meeting again in 15 days.

The Forest Department officers were instructed to implement the National Transit Pass System at all check posts, install solar panels on the sheds built in the forest depot, include areas with an altitude of more than 1000 meters in the Working Plan and take further action to review the circle wise revenue collection targets and their recovery. Also, directed to review the revenue collection on a monthly basis and to provide the action plan of how much revenue will be earned in the next 4 months to the Finance Department.

In the next review meeting, instructions were also given to present a detailed presentation focused on earning proper revenue from linseed, eco-tourism and herbs. It was also directed that the Forest Department should conduct an internal review for departmental revenue growth under the chairmanship of Principal Secretary Forest.

In the review meeting, first of all, the action taken to achieve the department-wise revenue collection targets and the instructions given in the previous meeting for revenue collection were reviewed.

The Additional Chief Secretary pointed out the need to achieve the revenue collection targets in a timely manner and the officers of all departments were instructed to achieve the targets with top priority.

During the review, it became clear that till date, about 61% of the state’s own tax revenue (Own Source Revenue) has been achieved as compared to the budget estimates.

In the major departments related to tax revenue such as State Tax Department, 60% revenue has been received in SGST and 69% in VAT as per the budget estimates.

Similarly, 66% has been received under Excise, 64% under Stamp and Registration Fee, 59% under Vehicle Tax, 44% under Energy Tax Revenue till now.

In the major departments related to Non Tax Revenue such as Mining, 69% has been received as per the budget estimates and 47% under Forest.

Anand Bardhan directed to pay special attention to achieving revenue as per the target in Energy, Forest and SGST.

In the meeting, the officers of the State Tax Department were instructed to use Artificial Intelligence to curb evaders and to obtain adequate revenue from the service sector.

The officers of the Excise Department were directed to recover the outstanding dues.

The officers of the Transport Department were directed to explore the possibilities of rationalization of various taxes, to collect Green Cess through fast tag along with toll tax on vehicles coming from outside, and to make progress in relation to ANPR camera.

Similarly, the officers of the Energy Department were directed to expedite the process of prepaid meters in urban areas, to increase billing efficiency and collection efficiency.

Anand Bardhan gave instructions to effectively use ANPR camera in departments like Forest, State Tax, Mining and Transport etc.

Secretary Finance Dilip Jawalkar, Brijesh Sant, H.C. Semwal, Additional Secretary C. Ravishankar, Dr. Iqbal Ahmed, Vineet Kumar, N.K. Joshi, Manmohan Mainali, MD Forest Development Corporation Girija Shankar Pandey, MD UPCL Anil Yadav, MD Pitkul Dhyani and various departmental officers were present in the meeting.