Private push to jack up revenue

The Dehu Road Cantonment Board has decided to go ahead with privatisation of collection of transit fee and vehicle entry fee, a move it anticipates will push up revenue by Rs 2.5 crore.

According to cantonment board officials, the board decided to privatise collection of transit fee and vehicle entry fee at a recent meeting in which it was also decided that the board will collect Octroi on its own. Its proposal to privatise collection of Octroi found no takers. The board has been pressing for privatisation of Octroi, transit fee and vehicle entry fee collection for the past one-and-a-half-year. However, it did not receive adequate response post which it was decided only to hand over responsibility of transit fee and vehicle entry fee collection to a private agency. Earlier, the proposals from private agencies were well below the rate decided by the board owing to which the proposal did not take off sooner.

The privatisation of transit fee and vehicle entry fee collection, is expected to shore up its revenue from Rs 12 crore at present to 14.5 crore. Besides, it would save money on deployment of staff for collection duty. According to cantonment officials the board will withdraw at least 15 personnel from collection duty. Cantonment spokesperson N M Mahajani said the board expects to shore up its revenue through privatisation. He said the proposal has been recently cleared at a board meeting and the private agency will be asked to carry out formalities like paying security deposit and submitting police verification records of its staff to be deployed.

The board has decided that the private agency will also have the powers to fine people for evasion. The board had collected Rs 30 lakh last year as compounding fee from vehicle drivers.

However, there will be no change in transit fee and vehicle entry fee as of now, officials said. While a loaded goods vehicle passing through cantonment limits has to pay a transit fee of Rs 100, passenger vehicles are levied Rs 20-40.

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