With the Government of India taking steps to promote online and digital payments, the migration of the services to the ePayment channel represents major strides towards achieving decreased dependence on cash. The initiative by Transport Department, Government of Goa to allow citizens to pay the various fees and taxes online is one of them. Over the years, the Government of India has taken many steps to promote digitization and e-Governance in the public sphere to promote easy and efficient access to Government schemes and initiatives. Echoing the objective, the Transport Department, Government of Goa launched the following e-payment services during the Digital India Week celebrations: • Web Wallet Deposit for Dealers • Monthly Passenger Tax for Commercial Vehicles • Yearly Road Tax for Commercial Vehicles Soon, after the announcement of the demonetization of the currency notes of high value by the Central Government, the State Transport Department introduced the following e-payment services to deal with the cash crunch faced by the public: • Facilitation Fee Payment for Dealers • New Vehicle Registration – Road Tax Payment • New Vehicle Registration – Infrastructure Cess Tax Payment • Other State Vehicle – Passenger Tax • Other State Vehicle – Road Tax • Other State Goods Vehicle – Road Tax • Other State Goods Vehicle – Cess Payment • Bulk Payment of Passenger Taxes OVERVIEW The services that are now offered by the Transport Department, Government of Goa to the citizens online are: Web Wallet Deposit for Dealer It allows the dealers to deposit to the web wallet through their own bank account online. As a result, the entire transaction takes less than 2 hours, which used to last up to 3-4 days when done manually. This helps the dealers to register a vehicle online even during weekends or on holidays. Monthly Passenger Tax for Commercial Vehicle The service allows passenger vehicles having a seating capacity of more than 8 to pay their monthly tax online. Earlier transporters had to visit the RTO every month to pay their monthly taxes. Yearly Road Tax for Commercial Vehicle Goods & Passenger vehicles can use this online service to pay their yearly tax eliminating the need to visit the RTO in person. Earlier transporters had to visit RTO every year to pay their yearly taxes. Facilitation Fee Payment for Dealer Vehicle Dealers facing a cash crunch for making payments related to inspection fee of a new vehicle by Motor Vehicle Inspectors to the Transport Department can use this service to make such payments through the e-payment channel. New Vehicle Registration – Road Tax Payment & Infrastructure Cess Tax Payment Purchasers of new vehicles who face difficulty in paying Road Tax for the vehicle they are purchasing due to various reasons can use this services to pay the road tax remotely using ePayment channels like credit/ debit card or net banking. It also allows the vehicle purchaser to make Road Tax and infrastructure cess payments online, solving their problems related to distance or time. Other State Vehicle – Passenger Tax and Good Vehicle Tax Usually, vehicles coming from other states paid their Road Tax and Passenger Tax at the check post in cash. However, this process has also been moved online, meaning transporters and vehicle owners can now pay these taxes online as well, making the process smooth and efficient. Bulk Payment of Passenger Taxes The bulk payment service was recently introduced for transporters with multiple vehicles for paying monthly or bi-monthly taxes in bulk in one single transaction. This service has immensely benefitted the State Transport Corporation (Kadamba Transport Corporation, KTCL) in paying taxes on its nearly 400-500 vehicles through a single transaction every month. Once the State Transport Department has linked Bulk Payments to its portal, all the Private Transporters having multiple vehicles will also be able to avail bulk payment service for payment of their monthly passenger taxes. The above mentioned services, as well as the movement of the payment avenues to the online mode, have benefitted many transporters from the State of Goa and from other states, allowing them to make payments through the e-payment facility. With the introduction of online payment service, it is now easier for vehicle dealers and commercial vehicle operators like private bus owners, tourist taxis and rickshaw operators to make their monthly, quarterly and annual road/ passenger tax payments online without queuing up at the RTOs. Besides, in order to monitor all the above payments, e-challan status view has been provided through e-Vahan portal to monitor the payments made by vehicle dealers, transporters and tour operators and the public in general. The e-challan status view provides status on all the e-challan payments done online and through the bank counter. ONLINE PAYMENT PROCESS FLOW Benefits of Online Payment • Public/ Dealers can make the payments anytime or on any day. • The need to physically visit the RTO has been eliminated to a great extent. • Dealer deposits directly get updated to their wallet balance. • Data reconciliation is easier. SUMMARY In the light of the recent moves taken by the Government, where stress has been laid upon on an economy less dependent on cash, the introduction of these e-payment services will help in providing all types of G2C, G2B and G2G services. The business transactions associated with dealers, manufacturers, spare parts supplier, private transporters & tour operators and the public can now be carried out directly through e-payment and in a more transparent and reliable manner. Since the e-transactions are posted directly, reconciliation saves a lot of the time at the RTO Level. All the above-mentioned services for RTO, Goa have been provided through the e-Challan Payment Gateway portal, Government of Goa. The services are available at https://egov.goa.nic.in/ echalanpg. For further information, please contact: JJR ANAND State Informatics Officer NIC Goa State Centre H-Block, Paraiso-De-Goa, Parovorim Goa Email: sio-goa@nic.in Phone: +91-832-2410160/2410816