Govt to combine GST, Vahan data to cut down transportation cost, time

The Union Ministry of Commerce and Industry is going to launch a Smart Enforcement App to monitor and improve the coverage of trucks by a whopping 2,50,000 kilometres per year by combining databases available with the GST Network and the ministry, writes Krishnanand Tripathi.

New Delhi: The Centre plans to launch a smart mobile app to monitor the movement of trucks and improve enforcement by combining two databases available with the GST Network and the ministry of road transport to reduce the logistics cost as it seeks to increase the coverage of trucks from existing 50,000-60,000 kilometres in a year to the US level where a truck covers 3,00,000 kilometres annually, said the ministry of commerce.

The smart enforcement app will be used by the enforcement departments of State governments such as transport, commercial tax department and police among other agencies by relying on a technology-driven approach. The initiative by the logistics division of the ministry of commerce and industries aims to roll out the smart enforcement app for truck movement in 10-12 states in the current financial year as it seeks to cut down logistics cost which is currently 13% of the GDP. Officials said one of the key reasons is delays due to random stoppages for physical checking of vehicles and verification of documents, among other things.

“While GST has helped improve the situation, there is a long way to go to reach the advanced country levels,” said the ministry of commerce. “There are over 60 different instances of potential violations of various rules and compliances that enforcement agencies need to watch out for,” the ministry said, adding that the responsibility for enforcement lies with state government departments such as commercial tax, transport, police and other agencies.

The Logistics Division has developed a risk-based approach to implement smart enforcement of rules and regulations related to road-based violations by trucks and developed an IT-based solution to make enforcement mechanisms technology-driven. The IT-based Smart Enforcement App was unveiled in a meeting with state officials on Wednesday.

According to officials, an IT application would fetch data related to goods being carried on the truck from the existing Goods and Services Tax Network (GSTN) database, and the information related to the vehicle from the VAHAN database and make it available to enforcement officers on the road in advance for approaching trucks. Based on a risk matrix that uses historical patterns, the app assigns a risk profile to the truck helping the officers decide whether to stop it for further scrutiny,” they said. The new mechanism requires the officer to issue all fines, penalties, or any other punitive measure through the app, ensuring transparency.

App to use hi-tech cameras and sensors

The application would be able to integrate with all the sensors, weigh in motion, and cameras available with the state government or National Highway Authority to allow remote enforcement. It would significantly reduce the need to deploy officers on the ground since the app would be able to alert officers whenever a vehicle is in violation.

Reduction in physical checks, cash challans

The Smart App will cut down the need for physical checks of commercial vehicles and would replace the use of cash challans with e-challans which would lead to better manpower utilization. According to officials, it will also lead to higher revenue collection due to reduced human intervention.

Better utilisation of manpower

According to Pawan Agarwal, special secretary, logistics in the ministry of commerce, the process of enforcing rules and regulations associated with tax, transport, traffic, and departments such as petroleum, forest produce, minerals needs significant investment in manpower and resources by state governments. While economic activities have increased, various states have not been able to increase the manpower to that extent,” Agarwal said in the meeting attended by more than 100 officials from the states. The logistics division would also take up customization of the Smart Enforcement App for different states depending on their specific requirements.