Shimla civic body to impose green tax from August 15

SHIMLA: Vehicles bearing outstation registration numbers will now have to pay green tax before entering Shimla.

“We plan to impose green tax on outstation vehicles from next month, most likely from August 15,” said Shimla deputy mayor Tikender Panwar.

Cash-strapped Shimla Municipal Corporation is likely to earn `6 to `9 crore annually from green tax collection. The corporation has proposed to levy `100 on light motor vehicles and `200 to `300 on heavy motor vehicles.

The civic body will decide on ways to collect green tax in its meeting on July 29. The house will also take the final call on green-fee imposition on vehicles coming from Solan, since many vehicles owners routinely travel to capital town for their daily jobs. This time, the municipal morporation has decided to set up more collection centres other than the entry points.

There is a proposal for setting up green-fee collection centres at petrol pumps apart from setting up toll plazas with computerised barriers for tax collection.

This is not for the first time that Shimla Municipal Corporation will levy green fees on vehicles entering Shimla town. Earlier too, it had imposed green fees on outstation vehicles in 2012. But it was stopped almost a year after as traffic situation in the town became more chaotic due to slow toll collections on four entry points.