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| Green tax to be imposed on older vehicles soon, to clean up the environment by phasing out unfit and polluting vehicles, Photo Credit: Leonie Fahjen |
NEW DELHI (Lampe):- The Union Minister for
Road Transport and Highways Sh. Nitin Gadkari has approved a proposal to levy a
“Green Tax” on old vehicles which are polluting the environment. The proposal
will now go to the states for consultation before it is formally notified.
The main principles to be followed while levying the Green Tax are :
Transport vehicles older than 8 years could be charged Green Tax
at the time of renewal of fitness certificate, at the rate of 10 to 25 % of
road tax;
Personal vehicles to be charged Green Tax at the time of renewal
of Registration Certification after 15 years;
Public transport vehicles, such as city buses, to be charged
lower Green tax;
Higher Green tax (50% of Road Tax) for vehicles being registered
in highly polluted cities
Differential tax, depending on fuel (petrol/diesel) and type of
vehicle;
Vehicles like strong hybrids, electric vehicles, and alternate
fuels like CNG, ethanol, LPG, etc to be exempted;
Vehicles used in farming, such as tractor, harvester, tiller, etc
to be exempted;
Revenue collected from the Green Tax to be kept in a separate
account and used for tackling pollution, and for States to set up state-of-art
facilities for emission monitoring
The benefits of the
“Green Tax” could be :
To dissuade people from using vehicles that damage the
environment
To motivate people to switch to newer, less polluting vehicles
Green tax will reduce the pollution level, and make the polluter
pay for pollution.
The Minister also
approved the policy of deregistration and scrapping of vehicles owned by
Government department and PSU, which are above 15 years in age. It is to be
notified and will come into effect from 1st April 2022.
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