Minister for Tourism, Ecology and Environment C.P. Yogeshwar said here on Friday that the vexed issue of streamlining inter-State road tax for tourist vehicles will be resolved with the standardisation of the tax slab.
He told reporters here the Centre has sent the draft proposal of the new policy to standardise and levy a uniform road tax across the country and this would be officially notified and rolled out in due course.
Once there is a single tax as part of one nation one tax policy, the long pending demand of the tourist operators to reduce or standardise the road tax will be automatically resolved, the Minister said.
He said he will share the draft policy with all the stakeholders and the State government too was keen to give its consent to the proposal. “The road tax levied on inter-State tourist vehicles was exorbitant as a result of which the tourists are forced to change vehicles when entering another State. This also discouraged the growth of tourism. A new uniform tax rate will eliminate this hassle and pave way for a greater tourist footfall.’
This was also one of the demands of stakeholders in the tourism sector and though pending since decades, there used to be a temporary reprieve by way of concession only during Dasara.
The Minister also said that he would take up the issue of establishing a tourism development authority for Mysuru apart from a Dasara Authority all of which are pending since many years. “We have already started the preliminary work pertaining to establishing a tourism authority. Similarly, the Dasara Authority too was in the offing and would help publicise the festivities ahead to enable the tourists to plan their visit.’’
He said the government would establish a few star hotels at Hampi, Badami, Belur and Vijayapura for the benefit of the tourists. In Mysuru, there are plans afoot to revive the glory of Lalitha Mahal Palace and he was in talks with the Wadiyars to revive the Rajendra Vilas Palace atop Chamundi Hills.
In response to a question on failure to protect the heritage of Mysuru or get it declared as a heritage city the Minister said he will convene a meeting of officials and stakeholders in this regard.
