Dehradun (Amanullah Usmani) Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami reviewed the financial year’s revenue receipts and increase in income resources with senior officials of the government including the Finance Minister. Expressing satisfaction over the state’s revenue collection of Rs 16436 crore against the total target of Rs 24745 crore, which is 66 percent of the target, the Chief Minister has given instructions to the concerned officers to complete the remaining target of 34 percent revenue by February. He said that along with effective control on illegal mining, more efforts should be made to increase the sources of income in this area. Along with developing an integrated system for the Transport Department, Traffic Police, Forest and Mining, instructions were given to the State Tax Department to further strengthen the intelligence system.

The Chief Minister said that the online system should be further improved to keep a close watch on areas like transport, mining, GST etc. More efforts should be made to increase revenue under GST. Effective measures should be taken to stop tax evasion. He also stressed on paying special attention to the use of innovation and information technology to increase income resources. The Chief Minister also talked about ensuring participation of local people in departmental action plans. The Chief Minister said that all departments should work with full alertness and activeness to increase the revenue. He said that UPCL and UJVNL need special efforts to increase their revenue in the energy sector. Vigilance based activities should be carried out continuously in areas prone to electricity theft.

The Chief Minister said that due to 71 percent forest area in the state, there is immense potential for revenue generation. More efforts should be made towards increasing revenue through better utilization of forest resources. Work should be done expeditiously towards commercial plantation in the Terai areas. Proper arrangements should be made for the sale of firewood. Work should be done keeping in mind the long-term plan for the conservation and sustainable development of herbs. The Chief Minister asked GMVN, KMVN and Forest Corporation to improve their working system and pay attention to the basic nature of the action plan of the corporations. He directed that the working capacity of the corporations should also be assessed.