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New Delhi: Days after the exit of the Trinamool
Congress, the government Thursday hiked taxes on railway passenger
fares and freight, which would increase by 3.7 percent from Oct 1.
Six months after the Trinamool Congress forced roll back in
railway fare hike, the finance ministry imposed 3.7 percent
service tax on freight charges and on AC and first class passenger
fares.
Fares of AC first class, executive class, AC-two tier, AC-three
tier, AC chair car, AC economy class and first class would go up
by 3.708 per cent from Oct 1, a statement said.
The tax will apply to tickets issued in advance. Travelling ticket
checkers will recover the service tax from passengers on the train
or by the booking office before the train starts off.
In the case of cancellation of tickets, the service tax amount
will not be refunded by the railways, a statement said.
On concessional tickets, service charges of 30 percent will be
charged on the fare being paid by the passenger.
With regard to freight charges, a 3.7 percent service tax has been
charged by the ministry.
However, certain commodities have been exempted from payment of
service tax, which can be ascertained from the Indian Railways'
web site i.e. www.indianrailways.gov.in, the statement said.
"The amount of Service Tax collected from passengers will be
deposited with the Ministry of Finance as per procedure. Finance
Departments of Zonal Railways have been instructed for proper
accountal and remittance of Service Tax amount to the Government,"
the notification said.
The Trinamool, which held the railways portfolio since 2009 till
it quit the UPA government last week, had steadfastly refused to
allow hike in fares.
Trinamool's Dinesh Trivedi, who became
railway minister after party chief Mamata Banerjee became chief
minister of West Bengal, had proposed a hike in his railway
budget.
However, Banerjee got him replaced by Mukul Roy and the
much-needed fare hike rolled back.
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