The Union Minister for Road Transport and Highways Nitin Gadkari on Monday said his department 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.
According to the proposal, transport vehicles older than 8 years could be charged Green Tax at the time of renewal of fitness certificate, at the rate of 10-25 per cent of road tax and personal vehicles to also be charged the same levy at the time of renewal of Registration Certification after 15 years.
Public transport vehicles, such as city buses, will be charged a lower Green tax.
In case of vehicles being registered in highly polluted cities higher Green tax (50% of Road Tax) will be charged and a 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.
Also, farm vehicles 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 facilities for emission monitoring, an official statement said.
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.
It is estimated that commercial vehicles, which constitute about 5% of the total vehicle fleet, contribute about 65-70% of total vehicular pollution.
The older fleet, typically manufactured before the year 2000 constitute less than 1 % of the total fleet but contributes around 15% of total vehicular pollution. These older vehicles pollute 10-25 times more than modern vehicles, the statement added.
Likely benefits of Green Tax:
· Will dissuade use of vehicles that damage the environment
· Will motivate switch to newer, less polluting vehicles
· Eill reduce pollution level, make the polluter pay
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