PANAJI
The Goa government has issued a notification extending till March next year the tax exemption provided to trucks carrying iron ore excavated from local mines.
The government expects that this extra legroom would offer the mining industry some scope to get back on track.
The Transport Department, in its notification issued on Friday has exempted the trucks from paying the road tax for this financial year or till mining activity resumes in full force in the State.
The notification was issued under Section 11 of the Goa, Daman and Diu Motor Vehicles Tax Act, 1974. The exemption from paying road tax has been granted up to March 31, 2017.
“In the event of resumption of the transport activities earlier to March 31, 2017, the truck/tipper owner shall pay the road tax on pro-rata basis for the remainder of the period of 2016-17,” the order issued by Director Transport Sunil Masurkar read.
With the intention of providing relief to the people affected due to closure of mining activity, the state government had exempted the trucks from paying road tax in 2014-15, which had been extended for another year.
The Supreme Court had banned mining in all 90 mines in Goa from October 2012 based on the findings of the Justice M B Shah Commission report, which estimated a Rs 35,000 crore loss to the exchequer due to alleged illegal mining over 12 years.
The apex court had lifted the ban in April 2014, but put an annual cap of 20 million tonnes on excavation.
