Maintaining that there was an urgent need to improve the economy of Maharashtra, State Finance Minister Sudhir Mungantiwar said the state government is trying to remove the loopholes in the existing taxation system and bring in evaders into the tax net.

The government also plans to fill up vacant posts in the revenue generating departments at the earliest, he said.

"Maharashtra was once considered to be a state disciplined in financial policies, but now has a debt of around Rs 3.4 lakh crore."

"To bring the state in a strong financial position, we have decided to make changes in the existing financial system across departments while making sure common man is not burdened," Mungantiwar told reporters at the State Secretariat.

He said sales, excise, stamp duty and transport are departments that contribute significantly to the state exchequer.

While the sales tax department contributes Rs 69,000 crore, excise contributes Rs 11,500 crore and transport contributes Rs 5,500 crore annually. Taxes from petroleum products amount to Rs 1,500 crore for the state, Mungantiwar said.

"There are certain shortcomings in the existing taxation system. This can be rectified by bringing in tax evaders into the system which will generate huge revenue," he said.

Criticising the previous Congress-NCP government for ignoring the demands of these revenue generating departments he said, "Our priority is to fill up vacant posts of these departments so that we can minimise the burden of work. This will also help us get hold of tax evaders," he said.

"The atmosphere of government offices, especially that of Sales tax and excise, is unhealthy outside Metro cities like Mumbai. How will employees work in such dilapidated conditions and how can we expect people to come forward and visit these offices to pay their taxes," he said.

Mungantiwar said concerned officials have been asked to renovate such government offices outside Mumbai in a time bound manner which will help increase the efficiency of the employees and in turn maximise their performance.