The Hindu : Front Page : Tax evasion: raid at railway stations

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Tuesday, Jun 19, 2007
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Tax evasion: raid at railway stations

Special Correspondent

Bid to confiscate goods transported without proper transit documents

T.M. Thomas Isaac says railway has become an easy route for tax evasion.

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Officials of the Commercial Taxes Department conducted simultaneous inspections at major railway stations in the State on Monday to confiscate goods transported from outside without proper transit documents to avoid payment of taxes.

The authorities seized 4319 bundles of the approximate value of Rs.707 lakh in the course of checking held in nine centres. The items ranged from red chillies, spices and ghee to footwear, readymade garments and electrical and electronic items. They collected security deposit worth Rs.2,66,250, Finance Minister T.M. Thomas Isaac said at a press conference here. The raids continued for the entire day.

Dr. Isaac said the railways had become a major route for bringing goods for sales in the State bypassing the tax collection machinery in the recent months since the Government had strengthened the road check posts on the inter-State borders. Goods valuing between Rs.1,500 crore and Rs.3,000 crore were reaching the State through this route annually, resulting in substantial revenue loss to the Government, he added.

He said that Railways had now started renting out goods wagons to private companies on contract basis. However, Railways had no mechanism to ensure that goods transported in these wagons had proper transit documents. The contract companies, in fact, were facilitating tax evasion.

During the inspections on Monday, the officials found that many parcels reaching the State this way did not even have the addresses of either the consignor or the consignee.

Unruly scenes

As many as 248 bundles containing readymade and electronic goods were seized during the raids in Kozhikode. The raids led to some unruly scenes at the railway station. A group of porters attempted to rebook 45 bundles to the Mangalore railway station. After pushing aside three inspectors, the porters managed to transport 10 bundles to Mangalore by the Thriruvananthapuram-Mangalore Express. A case was registered at the Railway Police station

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