Revenue collection dips in key departments

Despite Chief Minister's thrust, government departments fail to perform in revenue generation

By Our Staff Reporter

Guwahati, Aug 5: As Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi continue to rail at the slashing of central funds and schemes, a number of State government departments too have disappointed him, recording a slump in revenue generation.

A review meeting presided over by the Principal Secretary (Fince) SK Khare recently noted with discontent that some key departments like Excise, Forest, Transport and Land Records & Survey have not only failed to meet the targets set in this year's budget, but has also recorded a decline in revenue generation as compared to the corresponding period last year.

Noting the fall in revenue collection of the Excise department in April-May this year as compared to the corresponding period last year, the Principal Secretary advised the officials of the department to initiate revenue collection measures on priority and to make a comparative alysis with other states.

The Forest department was asked to stop illegal extraction, transportation of extracted raw materials that is causing the fall in revenue. The Transport department too was caught was on the wrong foot by Khare. The Principal Secretary wanted an explation as to why the revenue collection in the department declined though the number of vehicles increased as compared to previous year. Ironically, the Commissioner & Secretary of Fince department told the meeting that the computers and weigh bridges installed at Srirampur and Boxirhat composite check gates were defunct for a long period, leading to a substantial loss of revenue. The Director of Land Records could not submit an up-to-date information on the month-wise revenue collection for 2014-15 and 2015-16. The department also could not submit any data regarding collection from non-judicial stamp and e-stamp for the period. The budget estimates for this year's revenue collection is Rs 33,886 crore. While the actual collection in April this year was Rs 2,387 crore, in May it was Rs 2,235 crore.