Among them, nearly 16 lakh ply in the Hyderabad Urban Development Authority (HUDA) limits resulting in severe air pollution. Green tax is intended to discourage people from driving old vehicles. Soon after Rajasekhara Reddy took over as Chief Minister in May last year, STA officials submitted several proposals for mobilising resources and levying green tax was one of them. All proposals except green tax were cleared at that time.
The officials suggested that transport vehicles like lorries, tractors, auto trolleys etc, which have to obtain fitness certificate every year after eight years, should be taxed Rs 2,000 per year. Similarly, owners of the non transport and personal vehicles like two and four wheelers, who apply for renewal of registration after 15 years, should pay Rs 1,000 and Rs 2,000 respectively once in five years. Confirming that the government was examining the proposals, senior officials of the Transport department said that the Law department has raised certain doubts for which clarifications were sent.
