Hyderabad: Chief Minister A Revanth Reddy has instructed the officials of all the revenue generating departments to set monthly targets, devise plans and work towards achieving the annual targets set for increasing state’s revenues through various resources, and through collection of taxes on time. With revenue generation till July not very encouraging, Revanth asked officials to restructure their departments, and to introduce reforms within their processes to increase the state’s revenues.
The Telangana chief minister along with deputy chief minister Bhatti Vikramarka, ministers Ponguleti Srinivas Reddy, Jupally Krishna Rao, chief secretary Santhi Kumari, and special chief secretary for finance department Ramakrishna Rao held a four-hour review meeting on the progress of revenue generation by the excise, commercial taxes, mining, stamps and registration, and transport departments at Dr BR Ambedkar Telangana State Secretariat on Thursday.
Revanth Reddy also instructed officials to find new revenue generating avenues and show efficiency in tax collection, and ensure that all the departments concerned ensured that there were no tax evasions by taking stern action, said a press release from the Telangana chief minister’s office.
He also told the officials from the Telangana state departments that on the first week of every month he will be hold a similar review on the progress of revenue targets. Revanth Reddy also said that Bhatti Vikramarka will be holding a review with them every Friday, to see the progress of the revenue generation by various departments concerned.
GST collection
He directed the commercial taxes officials to work on the ground and perform audits to prevent tax evasion by commercial business establishments. Observing that the revenues through value added tax (VAT) on petrol and diesel has decreased lately, he asked the officials to consider the possibilities of tweaking the taxes on aviation fuel.
Excise revenues
Wondering how the revenues from the sale of alcohol haven’t increased though their sales were high during the elections, Revanth Reddy felt that if the flow of non-duty paid liquor was controlled, the excise revenues would automatically increase.
Stressing the need to prevent the pilferage of alcohol from the distilleries, he asked the officials to use modern technology to monitor the flow of liquor.
Real estate development in Hyderabad
Observing a favourable situation for the development of real estate in and around Hyderabad sparked by the regional ring road (RRR), expansion of the metro rail, and the development of the Musi river front in the near future, Revanth predicted that like the increase in the construction of commercial buildings, the sales in residential housing would also see a spike in the near future.
Also noting that the price of land and fixed assets has increased in the recent times, the Telangana chief minister asked the officials to take steps to take steps to increase the revenues through stamps and registrations in line with it. He also felt that the revenues from sand and minerals could be increased if illegal transportation of the natural resources could be curbed.
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