By IANS,
Kolkata: The cash-starved West Bengal government is taking steps to reorganise its excise department and registration offices to garner additional revenue of about Rs.650 crore annually, Finance Minister Amit Mitra said Saturday.
“We will take steps to reorganise the excise department, which was last done in 1968. The number of police stations per circle will be increased. We will also employ more sub-inspectors and constables, who will be retrained on collecting excise duty more efficiently,” Mitra told a media conference after a cabinet meeting at the state secretariat here.
He said the reorganisation of the excise department would require Rs. 2.7 crore and the government was expecting that the measure would contribute about Rs. 100 crore to Rs. 150 crore additional revenue each year.
The minister said that the cabinet also cleared measures to restructure the Registration and Stamp Duty offices, set up an inspection wing, and upgrade the Research and Analytical Centre (RAC).
“We have decided to bifurcate the very large registration and stamp duty offices. After the bifurcation, there will be 15 large offices. The inspection office will carry out new valuation of properties,” Mitra said.
He said the government would also upgrade the RAC for electronic registration and electronic stamping.
“We will have to spend Rs. 3.5 crore in these three reorganisation measures. We expect that these measures would contribute about Rs. 400 crore to Rs. 500 crore more revenue per year,” he added.