Andhra Assembly passes bill to regulate ticket pricing in cinemas

Along with this, AP Motor Vehicles Taxation (Amendment) Bill 2021 and four other Bills that were introduced earlier were also passed today.

State Transport Minister Perni Venkataramaiah, who tabled the Cinemas Bill on behalf of Chief Minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy, said in the assembly that the government had proposed to amend the existing Cinemas Bill to regulate the ticket pricing and stop the exploitation of middle-class people.

The Minister clearly explained the current scenario of irregular ticket pricing, number of screenings, unauthorized shows, and even large gaps between the taxes and film collections.

In order to regulate these, the government has decided to introduce a transparent online ticketing system, on the lines of Andhra Pradesh State Road Transport Corporation, Indian Railways online ticketing system, to keep a check on tax evasions, and enhance the movie-theatre experience in the state. The proposed online ticketing system enables the public to book tickets through mobile phones without queuing up at theatres or burning their pockets buying tickets in black.

He said that all stakeholders like producers, distributors, and exhibitors, have welcomed the decision but a few political parties are still politicising, although they were not related to the issue. He stated the online booking system will be maintained by Film Development Corporation with a dedicated payment gateway to stop the tax evasion and enable the Revenue Department to collect taxes on time, without any irregularities.

Later, presenting the AP Motor Vehicles Taxation (Amendment) Bill 2021, Minister Perni said that the amendment is part of the Centre's recommendation of Green-Tax to save the environment from carbon emissions. "In the case of transport vehicles that are 7 to 10 years from the time of the registration green tax of Rs 4000, which is half of the quarterly tax per annum and similarly if the age is 10 to 12 years Rs 5000 per annum and if the vehicle is more than 12 years Rs 6000 per annum will be levied," he said.

Also, along with green tax, there is an increase of tax on new vehicles which is one percent on the vehicles that cost below Rs 5 lakhs and three percent on those vehicles that cost between Rs 10-20 lakhs, and on the luxury vehicles that cost more than Rs 20 lakhs a total of 18 percent tax will be imposed.

In addition to these, Andhra Pradesh State Educational Institutions (Reservations in Teachers Cadre) Bill 2021, The Andhra Pradesh Agricultural Land (Conversion for Non-Agricultural purposes) (Amendment) Bill 2021, The Andhra Pradesh Universities (Amendment) Bill 2021, and The Jawaharlal Nehru Technological Universities (Amendment) Bill 2021 have been passed.

Andhra Pradesh Assembly session started on November 18 and will continue till November 26. (ANI)