The Telangana government has decided to levy tax on all stage carriers, private vehicles and goods carriers entering from its neighbouring state of Andhra Pradesh (AP) from April 1, thus increasing the cost of travel as well as transportation of goods between the two states.Before the bifurcation of AP, governor ESL Narasimhan had stated that no tax would be levied by either state for intra-travel of passengers and goods until March 31, 2015. Now that the governor's deadline is going to expire, the Telangana government plans to levy the tax while the AP government has been questioning if it should pay to enter its own capital Hyderabad - which will remain the joint capital for the next 10 years.The move is expected to increase bus fares from Vijayawada to Hyderabad from the present Rs 600 to Rs 1,000 and a similar increase of 25 to 40 percent on goods and products being transported from AP."Though a lot of goods and products are transported to Hyderabad and Telangana from AP, the tax is going to work out in favour of both the states and not just Telangana," N Balasubramanyam, the transport commissioner of Andhra Pradesh tells The News Minute.An official announcement is yet to be made, however it is expected that AP is likely to levy tax on Telangana as well."To go to any of the southern states like Tamil Nadu or Karnataka, vehicles from Telangana have to pass through AP. In fact, the only southern state that Telangana is directly connected to, is Maharashtra, which includes Mumbai and Shirdi," Balasubramanyam adds.Reports suggest that AP transport minister Sidda Raghava Rao had called for a meeting with his Telangana counterpart M Mahender Reddy to reverse the levy of tax, but to no avail."There is a lot of heavy machinery and other goods as well as finished products that are transported between the two states during various phases of production. Both the states will have to pay taxes to each other, which will only end up increasing the cost of transportation and as a result, production," says Balasubramanyam.Though both the states stand to fill their coffers with this move, the prices of several commodities will increase in both the states as a result and the common man is expected to witness a price rise soon.Tweet Follow @thenewsminute