THE GHOST OF MOTOR INSURANCE AND TOLL TAX

Stressing on insurance regulatory authority steadily increasing the basic insurance premium on vehicles by no less than 30 to 40 per cent for the last few years, an industry analyst, on the condition of not revealing his name, mentioned that it has already reached near unsustainable levels. Any increase, and it will turn out to be the last straw on the camel’s back, at least for the truck and bus industry, he added. Drawing attention to the change of rules in 2018 that drove the insurance costs by a significant margin, the analyst mentioned that it is high time that policies are closely linked with vehicle usage to ensure their effectiveness. Especially those of CVs.

The other subject that the analyst spoke about was road toll tax. Stating that such a phenomenon was rare even in advanced countries like England, and was linked in a transparent manner with the quality of infrastructure provided, he said that the steep rise in toll here is unfortunate. It is unfortunate that vehicles pay road tax upfront for their life and pay toll tax as well for almost every stretch of road that they use. Then, there are road taxes charged by local authorities as well under one pretext or the other. Even villages levy road tax for passage of vehicles which is very absurd, he expressed. For CV operators, this has been a matter of headache and unaccounted for costs, he informed. It often comes with harassment, delays, and material as well as human loss. The constant rise in their prices is something that points at the development of quasi-judicial powers, which is not good for the nation, he added.