In view of the increasing levels of pollution in Chandigarh, UT administration is planning to impose a ‘green tax’ on old vehicles. This tax will be collected during the renewal of fitness certificate for 12-year-old transport vehicles and 15-year-old private vehicles.
The Transport Department has prepared a proposal for this and sent it to UT Administrator VP Singh Badnore for approval. The green tax will be implemented only after the approval.
Transport Department Director Uma Shankar Gupta said that older vehicles cause more pollution and to curb it, a proposal for green tax has been planned. The Green Tax will be levied differently depending on the type of vehicles and the type of fuel.
“Green tax will have to be paid along with the road tax after the vehicle is found fit. This is being done so that people stop using old vehicles. So far, only the road tax has to be paid during the renewal of the fitness certificate,” said Gupta.
Gupta said that only after the approval of the proposal, the amount that will be paid as green tax will be clear. However, sources say that the green tax could be 10-25% of the road tax depending on the type of vehicle.
According to the proposal, vehicles running on alternative fuels such as electric and CNG vehicles, hybrid electric cars, ethanol and LPG will be excluded from this tax. Also, vehicles used in agriculture such as tractors, harvesters, etc will be kept out of the purview of this tax.
Officials said that it has been estimated that commercial vehicles, which account for about 5% of the total vehicles, are responsible for about 65-70% of the total pollution, which is why this tax is being introduced.
