Punjab Government on Wednesday announced to constitute a Special Investigating Team (SIT) to probe the alleged revenue loss of Rs 6,600 crore in state Transport Department in the past nine years, due to illegal extension of permits by private bus operators and subsequent losses to the state transport undertakings.
Announcing this, the state Transport Minister Amarinder Singh Raja Warring claimed that after crackdown on tax evaders, illegal activities, and without permit bus operators, the Department’s daily income has started increasing by more than Rs 1 crore.
Warring said that the “scam” will be thoroughly investigated by forming a SIT, and every person found guilty, be it a leader or an official, would not be spared at any cost. “If Rs 6600 crore had gone to the state exchequer, 24,000 new buses could have been procured and 50,000 drivers-conductors and other staff could have been recruited for these buses and two new buses could be run from each village of the State,” he added.
Warring, while addressing the media, said that the Transport Department’s income is increasing day by day, and now it has reached at Rs 100.48 lakh per day.
Referring to the Department’s income for the past two months, the Minister said that the income of PRTC and Punjab Roadways stood at Rs 39.01 crore and Rs 34.15 crore respectively in September 2021, which has increased Rs 54.74 crore (PRTC) and Rs 49.57 crore (Punjab Roadways) during the month of October.
Warring said that the total income of the two institutions increased by 42.57 percent (Rs 31.15 crore), and stood at Rs 104.31 crore in October as against the total Rs 73.16 crore of September, adding daily income from both the institutions till date is Rs 100.48 lakhs. Comparing the Department’s increased income with the past, Warring said, “Ten years rule of SAD-BJP and four-and-a-half-year rule of Capt Amarinder Singh’s compromised government allowed sheer loot of the state exchequer and the amount of these 5,220-days would be stood at around Rs 5,200 crore.”
“These people, who filled up their own pockets by looting public money, could never think about the public welfare,” he added.
He informed that the order passed in 2012 by Punjab and Haryana High Court Justice Surya Kant against illegal expansion in multiple permits was not implemented properly. “Now, we have implemented this decision in toto and cancelled 680 multiple permits of illegal expansion of more than one lakh kms. With this, the State Government has started getting profit to the tune of Rs 42 lakh daily during the month of October,” he added.
Warring stressed that if the illegal expansion of permits had been revoked during period 2012 to 2021, the amount of Rs 1380 crore for 3,285 days of nine years (Rs 42 lakhs per day) would have gone to the state exchequer which could be spent on public welfare. “As many as 304 buses have been confiscated for evading taxes, without permits and other violations and 64 buses have been challaned so far.
The Transport Department has been able to collect Rs seven crore as tax,” said the Minister, who conducted a midnight surprise raid on Tuesday to check the buses plying illegally or without permit.
The Minister said that 842 more buses will be added in the State Government fleet soon while 1,100 buses of PRTC and 1,550 buses of Punjab Roadways are plying on roads in the state.