Paying road taxes for commercial vehicles will just be a click away by the end of this month. In a bid to provide hassle-free payment facility to the commercial vehicles, the Transport Department has decided to expand the process of various taxes through e-payment.
The first phase of the online gateway will be operational by July 31. The Department currently has no other alternative for customers to make their payments than 100 per cent cash transactions that take place at the Regional Transport Offices (RTOs).
In the first phase, the bus operators holding the national permits will be able to pay their road taxes through their SBI debit cards or through net banking. “To make payment through debit card, the user must have an SBI account, as the payment will be facilitated through the SBI ATM-cum-debit card. In case the bus operator does not have an account with the required bank, the payment can be made through online banking. Trials are being conducted on the online payment gateway and it will be implemented by July 31," said a senior Delhi Government official.
Officials said that the first phase of online collection through net banking or debit cards has received approvals from the finance department. Once operational, the e-payment procedure will then be integrated with the department's ambitious Vahan 2 scheme that proposes to nullify all the cash transactions that take place at the RTOs.
The second phase will involve online collection of taxes through cash challans, which is expected to get operational from October this year. Officials said that the phase is still under process as it requires relaxation from Comptroller General of Accounts (CGA), Ministry of Finance and the Government of India for non-submission of challans with the Pay Accounts Office (PAO). "The second stage is a lengthy process as it will involve generating online challans of the tax to be deposited by the operator and paying the challan to the bank branch. The hard copy of the challan should reach our office," added the official.