The Mamata Banerjee government has waived the road tax that commercial transport owners need to pay in every quarter to run their vehicles in view of the Covid 19-pandemic and the resultant lockdown that affected their business for many weeks.

In a notification issued by the state transport on February 10, it was mentioned that the tax for two consecutive quarters — from January 1 to June 30 this year — has been waived.
For the past few months, transporters in Siliguri and surrounding areas time and again raised a number of demands, including waiver of the tax and penalties for delay in the payment of such taxes and most importantly, revision of fares.

In Siliguri as well as in the Darjeeling hills, the fares charged from passengers by thousands of light vehicles — both on share basis and reserve basis — have not been revised since 2008.
Recently, owners and drivers of around 1,300 taxis, most of which ply from Bagdogra airport, observed a strike over these demands.

“We thank the state government for waiving the tax for two quarters. It has come as a relief for us. Last year, our vehicles had been lying idle for four to five months. We would also urge the government to waive the penalty we have to pay if there is delay in clearing the taxes,” said Siraj Bhomik, the president of the Bagdogra Airport Taxi Association.
A person can save Rs 8,000 to Rs 9,000 against a vehicle on account of the waiver, he said.

State tourism minister Gautam Deb, who was instrumental in flagging the transporters’ issue before the state government, said their demand for fare revision would be addressed soon.
“The department will soon take appropriate initiatives in this regard. We are in touch with officials and hope the fares would be revised soon,” the minister said.
Although he declined further comments, sources said there were indications that the fares would be increased to a considerable level.

“We have heard that the fares of luxury taxis which operate on different hill routes would be increased by around 35 per cent while those of the non-luxury cars would be increased by 40 per cent or so,” said a transporter.