GUWAHATI: A Group of Ministers (GoM) of Transport departments of 11 States –Meghalaya, Assam, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh, Himachal Pradesh, Bihar, Kerala, Chhattisgarh, Goa, Jharkhand, Rajasthan – on Thursday adopted ‘Guwahati Declaration’ that aims to harmonise of tax and permits.
The two-day conclave of the GoM which concluded here on Thursday, discussed in detail road safety measures and policy changes and implementation strategies for strengthening the state road transport undertakings.
The chairman of the GoM and Rajasthan’s Transport minister Yoonus Khan said, “This was the sixth meet of this GoM and has been the most successful one so far. We had detailed discussions on all issues and a nine-point Guwahati Declaration has been adopted.”
He said a major decision taken is the recommendation for a ‘one nation, one tax’ for the diverse road tax structure, which would ease travel as well.
Khan said, “A committee with secretaries of five states has been formed to work on the details of this concept. It will submit the report within 15 days and we shall forward the recommendations to the Centre.”
“We hope it can be implemented within two months,” he added.
Among other decisions taken are harmonisation of taxes and permit rates across the country, amendment to the Load Safety Act of 1983, waiver of taxes on e-buses, and rationalisation of tax.
Khan further said a special committee, with Assam Transport minister Chandra Mohan Patowary as chairman, has been formed to look into the issues concerning specifically the hill states.
Guwahati Declaration:
1. All the 11 participating states’ Ministers (Assam, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Himachal Pradesh, Kerala, Chhattisgarh, Goa, Haryana, Meghalaya, Jharkhand, Rajasthan) resolved to analyse the road accidents data and to make serious efforts to reduce the accidents. The states will undertake a sustained road safety campaign throughout the year to control and curb the delinquent actions of motorists/drivers. A committee was formed to examine and frame a National Road Safety Policy and Code.
2. It was agreed that process of issuing driving licenses be strengthened by way of adopting and setting up of infrastructure like automation of driving test so as to ensure objective and quality testing for applicants. There would be focus on technology assistance and elimination of human intervention.
3. The GOM felt that there is a strong need to reform the vehicle fitness regime. This would be done through technology based Inspection Centers to be set-up either by the State Government or through PPP mode. An initiative taken by Gujarat Government like ‘SUVAS’ could be emulated.
4. The group noted that variation of levy of tax on private vehicles within the states be minimised, so that the people do not tend to go for registration of their vehicles in lower tax jurisdiction. It was also agreed that no tax be realised in case a private vehicle migrates from one state to another owing to relocation of vehicle owner.
5. In order to ascertain seamless transportation of Tourist buses, a consensus among the states emerged that a composite annual fee model be implemented throughout the country, as has been done for the National permit trucks since 2010. It was also observed one Nation one tax policy be adopted in vehicular tax regime.
6. The issues pertaining to removal of hassle in renewal of license, removal of variation in charges/fees/renewal rates among states, promoting public transport and shared mobility, environment friendly transport via e-vehicles etc. were deliberated and consensus made out to achieve all the above objectives.