The Telangana State Cabs and Bus Operators Association (TSCBOA) has decided to step up the protest against the imposition of border tax by the neighbouring Andhra Pradesh government on contract carriage vehicles.
It also resolved to pressurise the Telangana government to cut down road tax levied within the State by more than half.
At a meeting held here on Saturday with Syed Nizamuddin in the chair, the bus operators chalked out their course of action.
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They planned to organise protest meetings every Saturday beginning May 9 at Afzalgunj, Vidyanagar, Kukatpally and Hi-tec City for a month. “If our demand is not conceded, we will approach Governor E.S.L. Narasimhan. If all efforts fail, we will not pay road tax for the next quarter,” Mr. Nizamuddin declared.
The Telangana bus operators are now asked to pay border tax of Rs. 330 per seat or nearly Rs. 8,000 for a 22-seater carriage per trip to Andhra Pradesh. Most of the contract carriages depend on religious tourism and operate nearly 5,000 buses every day to destinations like Tirupati, Srisailam, Sri Kalahasti, Kanaka Durga temple, Vijayawada and Mantralayam.
If the border tax is not reduced, then it will render a death blow to the industry, the bus operators said.
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“None of us will be able to operate buses to Andhra Pradesh as we cannot shift the additional burden on the passengers,” the bus operators said.
In separate representations made to the Chief Ministers of Andhra Pradesh and Telangana, the TSCBOA said the border tax would have an adverse impact on the tourism industry leading to revenue loss to both the States.
The bus operators urged the Telangana government to reduce the present rate of road tax of Rs. 893 per seat fixed during united Andhra Pradesh. If the tax is proportionately divided into 10 districts instead of 23 then the bus operators will have to pay just Rs. 390 per seat.
They further asked the Telangana government to join the agreement of southern States on border tax.
As per the agreement, there is no border tax for contract carriage vehicles entering Tamil Nadu and Kerala.
After the bifurcation of the State, the agreement was valid only for Andhra Pradesh.
Being the new southern State, Telangana should have automatically become a part of the agreement.
Therefore, the government should join this agreement to bail out the travel industry, the bus operators said.