Bengaluru, DHNS The Transport Department’s revenues have fallen far short of the target for the current fiscal.

The department’s revenue mobilisation is short by Rs 584 crore as of February-end though the registration of number of new vehicles has gone up.

The government had fixed a target of Rs 4,800 crore for the financial year 2015-16, but the department managed to collect only Rs 4,216 crore by the end of February.

With just two weeks left for the fiscal year to end, the department hopes to meet the target.

Transport Commissioner Ramegowda told Deccan Herald that the department would meet its target by March-end.

In 2014-15, the department surpassed the revenue target by an additional collection of Rs 140 crore against the target of Rs 4,350 crore.

This act of adding more revenue to the State’s exchequer has earned it appreciation from all quarters. The situation, however, is different this year, as the department is finding it difficult to reach its target.

Officials in the department have no clue why there is a deficit despite collecting lifetime tax from vehicles registered out of the State.

According to an official, around Rs 17 crore was collected from the out-of-the-State registered vehicles.

The statistics suggest that registration of new vehicles has increased this year compared with last year.

At the end of January, 12,32,556 new vehicles were registered, while it was 11,76,061 last year.

Though there is a steady increase in the registration of vehicles of all categories, the statics provided by the Transport Department show that there is a steep decline in the number of medium goods vehicles in the last three years.

With prices of all motor vehicles going up from April due to new taxes in the Union Budget, the department is confident of a rush in registration in the next two weeks.

An official in the department told Deccan Herald that registration of new vehicles was still on and they hoped to make up the difference by end of this month.

“We have no data about the revenue collection as it is yet to be collected from RTOs. Usually, enforcement will increase if there is a shortage,” he said.

Notwithstanding a dip in revenue this fiscal, the department has increased its target by Rs 5,040 for the year 2016-17.

Photo credit: DHNS