NOIDA: Vehicles more than 15 years old will now have to pay green tax if they ply on roads, and the money will be used for the protection of environment, the UP government has said. After giving a nod to the amendments in the Motor Vehicles Act in May 2014, the state government has recently sent a letter for its enforcement to the regional transport office of Gautam Budh Nagar.
A tax of 10% of the registration amount (that old vehicles had paid for re-registering their vehicles) will be charged, officials said.
Rachna Yaduvanshi, assistant regional transport officer, said over 14,000 vehicles were registered with the district transport department before December 31, 1999. "All these vehicles come under this category. On an average, five to six people come to the transport office every day for re-registration of their old vehicles," she said.
Yaduvanshi added there are 13,912 private vehicles and 907 commercial vehicles older than 15 years.
In November last year, the National Green Tribunal had, however, banned vehicles older than 15 years in Delhi due to the increasing levels of air pollution in the city.
But the move to allow old vehicles run in the city has been welcomed by many commuters, who added that the government must also ensure that old vehicles do not add to vehicular pollution. "Officials must penalize vehicles that do not have the pollution under control (PUC) certificates," Alok Singh, a resident of Greater Noida, said.
Environmental experts have, however, expressed concern that allowing old vehicles even by taxing them may add to air pollution.
Deepak Jain, an environmental engineer, said the government should focus on upgrading the old vehicles so that they do not pollute the environment. "Allowing all vehicles without checks would be dangerous. Strict enforcement on pollution checks is a must because taxes can't compensate the damages done to environment," he said.
Transport officials have said they will allow only those vehicles to run which are declared fit.
