The Hindu : Revenue earners asked to show better results

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Wednesday, Dec 31, 2003

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Other States - New Delhi

Revenue earners asked to show better results

By Our Staff Reporter

NEW DELHI DEC. 30. Unhappy with the performance of the State Finance Department on the revenue front, the Delhi Chief Minister, Sheila Dikshit, today asked the various revenue-earning agencies, particularly the Sales Tax Department, to pull up their socks and show better results. With hardly three months left for the current financial year to close, everyone has been asked to get down to the job of meeting the revenue target of Rs. 7,400 crores set in the annual budget.

Taking a serious note of the situation, the Chief Minister told senior officers at a review meeting that the fiscal situation should not be allowed to get out of hand. She said the Department should seek the cooperation of the trading community and business chambers to increase the revenue with thrust being on expanding the tax base.

Stressing the need for adopting progressive taxation, the Chief Minister is understood to have asked the officers concerned to chalk out an action plan to ensure that whatever had been set out for 2003-04 is achieved.

"We need to work hard on the revenue front. There is an urgent need to make up for the shortfalls and reduce the increasing revenue gap. I have also asked for drawing up of elaborate plans to work out in the right earnest the approach to be adopted for 2004-05,'' Ms. Dikshit told The Hindu.

The meeting was attended by the Finance Minister, A.K. Walia, the Principal Secretary (Finance), M.K. Bezbaruah, the Principal Secretary (Planning), Rahul Khullar and the new Sales Tax Commissioner, R. K. Verma.

Stating that the review meeting was not complete as she had to leave it midway to meet the Union Minister of Power, Ananth Geete, the Chief Minister said she would again review the situation in the coming week.

Ms. Dikshit is learnt to have told the officials that no laxity should be allowed to creep in at this crucial juncture. It is surprising that while the economy is booming and almost all the industrial sectors are posting a healthy growth, the decline in the sales tax collections in Delhi is unexplained.

Even the neighbouring States of Haryana, Uttar Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh have recorded a healthy growth while Delhi the sales tax collections have fallen short by almost 5 per cent.

Another worrying factor is the poor growth of collections in the land revenue and transport sector. These have not performed up to the mark and could pose serious problems to the Finance Minister in preparing his next budget.

It is estimated that the sales tax collections will fall short by around Rs. 300 to Rs. 400 crores from the budgetary target of Rs. 4,400 crores.

Last year also, the sales tax collections had fallen short by around Rs. 400 crores but this did not wake the Department out of its slumber.

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