Special road tax on tourist vehicles cut down in Himachal Pradesh

SHIMLA: In a move to ensure seamless mobility of the tourists to the state, the Himachal Pradesh government has decided to cut down Special Road Tax (SRT) and other taxes levied on tourist buses, tempo travellers and commercial tourist vehicles.

Chief Minister Sukhwinder Singh Sukhu made this announcement after a meeting with representatives of the taxi and tempo operators who had threatened to boycott Himachal Pradesh.

“The state government is seriously considering revising the recently issued notification in view of SRT,” Chief Minister told the delegation of Shimla Hotel and Tourism Stakeholders Association at Oak Over ,his official residence.

He said the government will also set up a tourist helpline to be linked with already existing 1100 helpline number .There is also a move to make the Home-Stay policy soon for the convenience of tourists.

He said besides this air connectivity the road infrastructure in the state was also being strengthened and the work to connect all the districts with heliports was in progress and the government mulls to construct another Heliport in Shimla to increase the footfall of the tourists and enhance the tourism activities. The focus is on increasing the footfall of tourists to 5 crore per year in the state he reiterated.

To ensure long stay of the tourists in the state, the tourist destinations will be equipped with world class facilities he said, adding that the UV/ultra filtration technology will also be used in a phased manner to provide pure drinking water to the tourists and the people of the state. He said we are working in this direction.