Acting tough over the lackadaisical attitude of sales tax department with regard to payment of license fee for the area allotted to the department, railway officials in Ferozepur division have decided to issue a letter to the department for recovery of the amount. Authorities have decided to recover the pending amount from all departments having offices on railway land.

Sources revealed that the authorities have got to recover around Rs 2.5 lakh from the department in the form of license fee for a year. Notices would be issued to Jalandhar and Amritsar stations as well for recovery of almost the same amount. The amount has not been recovered for the last one year.

A kiosk was allotted to officials of sales tax department so that they could conduct checks on parcels or goods arriving at the station through booking from other parts of the country. Officials are guarding against any tax evasion but in the process, many a time, railway and sales tax officials have been at loggerheads with each other.

Notably, rail authorities allow various government departments to open their offices on railway premises, but for that, they have got to pay some amount to railway authorities. While this helps railways generate extra income, it also provides space to other departments for their working.

Authorities have increased their income targets in this financial year as last year, they had recovered around Rs 26 crore through sundry items like parking, land-licensing and other such things and in this section, the income growth was around 68%.

Talking to The Times Of India, Satish Chander, divisional railway manager (DRM), Ferozepur division, said these government offices provide them additional income, so they have started reviewing their income sources. He said he had asked the commercial department to issue a notice to sales tax department to pay the pending dues as soon as possible.