Telangana Commercial Taxes (Vigilance) Department has cracked the whip against illegal transport of goods and commodities without valid documents for evading taxes.
During the intensified drive over the last one week, the department found that sugar was rampantly transported illegally to Telangana, particularly Hyderabad, under the guise of transit pass in vehicles coming from Karnataka.
According to sources, commercial tax department officers intercepted vehicles laden with sugar near Kodangal in Mahabubnagar and unearthed the clandestine business flourishing in different wholesale markets in Hyderabad, a city with high consumption of sugar. So far the department collected tax along with penalty to the tune of Rs.1 crore.
The illegally transported sugar is so quickly unloaded and distributed that by the time one gets wind of it, there would be no evidence, sources added. Thus the department stepped up vigil near border posts and also intercepted vehicles moving suspiciously through roundabout routes to avoid checks. About 70 to 80 trucks of sugar apparently come to the city daily clandestinely evading tax and depriving the State exchequer significant revenue, sources added.
The department, it is learnt, seized four to five vehicles transporting goods without tax bills and ordered an investigation into the transactions.
