e-rawaana generated after challan of vehicle!

Nitish Sharma

Ambala, July 8

Regional Transport Authority (RTA) officials have detected alleged malpractices being adopted in the issuing of e-transit passes, or e-rawaanas, to evade paying royalty to the state exchequer.

To monitor the movement, the sale and purchase of raw material from mining sites, products from stone-crushers and screening plants, the government had implemented the e-transit system. It was to help the mining department, regional transport authority and other departments in controlling illegal mining and plying of overload vehicles.

According to information, on July 5, a team of RTA, Ambala, spotted an overloaded tipper carrying clay and followed it. A senior official said: “A tipper was on its way toward Mohra via Badholi and Kalpi. The driver offloaded the soil at a private plot. A challan to the tune of Rs 41,000 was issued for offences under the Motor Vehicles Act, and the tipper was impounded. During further checking, it was found that while the challan was issued at 5.31 pm on July 5, the vehicle was impounded at the Mohra police post at about 5.45 pm. Surprisingly, the e-rawaana of the vehicle was generated at 5.57 pm, which is illegal.”

The e-rawaana was reportedly issued by a plant of a company involved in the construction of roads.

In another case, in May, a vehicle was impounded for using single pass while it was on multiple trips. The vehicle was being issued pass only in the second trip. A suspected case of fake e-rawaana also came to light on July 5 when a vehicle was impounded near Patvi police post. However, the owner claimed that there was some miscommunication and he would contest any action.

Meanwhile, the RTA Secretary, Ambala, Sushil Kumar, stated: “A vigil is being kept on commercial vehicles plying with overload. A tipper was spotted, impounded and a challan was issued. Further action about the issuance of fake e-rawaana pass will be taken by the mining department. The e-rawaana was issued after the vehicle was issued a challan and impounded. In order to avoid paying royalty to the exchequer, firms adopted different tactics. Action will be taken against the transporters involved in overloading and violating the Motor Vehicles Act, besides issuing fake e-rawaanas to avoid paying taxes.”

Evading tax, royalty

• Cases have come to light in the past in Yamunanagar district where fake passes were allegedly prepared by screening plant owners and stone-crushers to transport mining minerals, including sand, stone dust, core-sand and bajri
• This was being done to conceal their involvement in illegal mining and evade taxes and royalty to the government