Girisola checkgate in Berhampur. Picture by Gopal Krishna Reddy

Berhampur, Nov. 20: Arrangements are being made to streamline vehicular movement at the integrated checkgate at Girisola in Ganjam district on the Odisha-Andhra Pradesh border.

“We are developing 18 acres near Surla Square to construct the terminal for the integrated Girisola checkgate. There will be separate slots for the incoming and the outgoing vehicles. More than 200 vehicles will be accommodated there at a time. It will streamline vehicular movement on the highway,” said assistant commissioner in-charge of commercial tax of the unified checkgate Prasant Kumar Mahakhud.

This unified checkgate collects tax for five departments of the state government, including sales tax, motor vehicles, forest, excise and civil supplies. “About 2,800 vehicles from both sides pass through the unified checkgate at Girisola everyday. The drivers have to wait here, keeping their vehicles on the highway, till they get their waybills. But, when the terminal arrangements will be put in place, we will not allow any vehicle to park on the highway and they will instead be parked at the provided slots till getting clearance,” said the assistant commercial tax commissioner.

“In May, we have introduced online system at the incoming counter at Girisola to verify documents of the passing vehicles, including waybills and transit passes. Introduction of e-waybills and e-transit passes through online system at Girisola has helped the operating staff of the vehicle to pass through our checkgate more quickly, which has subsequently paved the way for a smoother traffic flow,” he said.

Earlier, the staff of the checkgate used to verify every document manually, which was a time-consuming process. Now, as most vehicles are equipped with e-way bills and e-transit passes generated at the purchasing point through internet, we check these documents through their barcodes within few seconds. Earlier, it required at least five minutes to check every vehicle’s documents manually. But now, the entire process happens in seconds.

“We need to popularise the concept of e-way bills and e-transit passes. Every vehicle operator should avail the e-way bills and e-transit pass facility browsing our website www.cctorissa.gov.in,” said Mahakhud.

The new online system has both streamlined time management and lessened the scope of faking documents.

Sources at the checkgate said things would be streamlined with the help of technology. Surveillance camera, scanner, mechanised gate and other sophisticated gadget will be installed at the modernised Girisola checkgate. At present, a sum of Rs 2 lakh is being collected at this gate everyday.

Deepak Beshra, commercial tax officer posted at the incoming counter of the checkgate, said: “We are trying to create awareness among drivers for a smooth flow of traffic through the checkgate. We regularly request the drivers to report to the officers directly if they face any difficulty. We hope the traffic system here will improve,” said Beshra.