WHILE many term it as a new reign of administrative terror, the Income Tax Department has scripted a success story in the Valley, not only exceeding its targets but also almost tripling collections over a three-year period. This even as the electricity, water and sales tax departments struggle to meet their revenue collection targets in the region.

Three years after all the records in its Srinagar office were gutted in a fire caused by militants’ crossfire, the headquarters of the Income Tax Department has risen, literally, from the ashes.

Collections have risen from Rs 182 crore in 2004-2005 to a whopping Rs 534 crore in 2007-08. The tax base of Jammu and Kashmir widened from 92,242 returns being filed in 2004-05 to 1,15,766 returns being filed in 2007-08.

The IT Department now works out of a rented bungalow in Srinagar’s Rambagh area. With IT notices being sent at a frenzied pace, the office is swamped with harried businessmen and traders late into the night. Recently, a single lot of 500 IT notices was sent to residents of Srinagar alone, which explains why the department’s Rambagh office resembles a place under siege.

J&K Income Tax Commissioner Virinder Singh is responsible for all the renewed action. The increased collections are the result of a sustained awareness drive and intense intelligence collection on defaulters in the state, he said.

“In J&K, what we encounter is a complete lack of awareness on Income Tax matters among people at a lower level and massive Income Tax evasion at the higher level,” he said. “We have come down with a heavy hand on both counts.”

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