Pay your road tax, or face the music: Bangalore transport commissioner

Bring your four-wheelers to the state only if you pay the road tax in Karnataka. With the number of outstation cars and other vehicles zipping through city roads rising steadily, the state transport department is soon going to make their owners pay the taxes.

DNA, on Thursday had reported that people who have bought their mean machines registered outside Karnataka might land in trouble. Transport commissioner Bhaskar Rao details his plan to DNA.

Will the drive be targeted at all vehicles registered elsewhere?
All vehicles registered outside the state will come under our surveillance. But we are mainly targeting high-end cars and bikes of international brands. Just  to avoid taxes, people buy these vehicles in other states where the road tax is lesser than Karnataka.

What about bikes?
The transport department has information about several bikes which are technologically advanced and very costly. Such bikes will also be under the scanner.

When is the transport department starting the drive to bring non-taxpayers under their clutches?
We won’t announce that right away. Owners of these high-end vehicles know well what they have done and what they ought to have done. Let them pay taxes or suffer the consequences.

What is the mode of implementation?
The vehicle owners just need to go to their respective Regional Transport Offices and file their taxes. There is no need for a no-objection certificate but they should have all the papers in place. If the owners are ready to pay the taxes, the department will surely give some benefits according to the present depreciated value of the vehicle.