By Our Reporter
SHILLONG: Leader of Opposition Conrad K Sangma has alleged that the Government is losing huge revenue from the check gates of the Transport department on NH-62.
“The Government is losing revenue to the tune of Rs 40 crore from only a single check gate in a span of eight months which is a matter of concern,” Sangma said while participating in the budget discussion in the Assembly on Tuesday.
Using numbers to prove his point, Conrad said that the Taxation department had issued receipts to 10,000 over-loaded trucks along NH-62 but the Transport department had issued receipts only to 600 of those over-loaded trucks passing through NH-62.
“Now if 9,400 over-loaded trucks pay Rs 6000 each (which is the amount charged as fine for overloading) the department is losing around Rs 5 crore as revenue in a month. The amount would come to around Rs 40 crore in eight months,” Sangma said.
Ardent flays budget
Nongkrem legislator Ardent Miller Basaiawmoit criticized the government for not taking into consideration suggestions made during the pre-budget exercise where most of the stakeholders and organizations had stressed on the need to improve the agriculture sector in the State.
He also asked the government to first concentrate on improving infrastructure in the education sector especially in existing institutes like polytechnics in the State instead of giving importance to new projects in terms of fund allocation.
While mentioning that the State Government is mostly dependent on grant-in aids from the Centre, Basaiawmoit wanted the government to collect tax from the ‘super rich’ people of the State.
He also criticized the budget for ignoring women and farmers of the State.
“We want that the budget should be result oriented and should adopt reform measures,” Basaiawmoit suggested.
