Uttarakhand to impose green tax on 'out-of-state' vehicles from Dec

Green tax will be collected from vehicles coming to Uttarakhand from outside states from December, officials said.

According to officials, the decision aims at controlling pollution, protecting the environment, and promoting cleanliness in the state. The collection of this tax will begin in December.

State Additional Transport Commissioner Sanat Kumar Singh said Automatic Number Plate Recognition (ANPR) cameras installed along the state's borders will capture the registration numbers of incoming vehicles.

He said 16 cameras were already installed in the border areas, and their number has now been increased to 37.

The transport department has appointed a vendor company to collect the green tax, Singh said.

The data captured by the cameras will be sent to the vendor through software, which will then separate information related to Uttarakhand-registered, government, and two-wheeler vehicles, and send them to National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) database, he added.

He informed that from there, the wallet numbers of the vehicle owners will be searched, and the relevant amount will be automatically deducted and deposited to the account of the transport department.

Different tax rates have been fixed for various vehicle categories -- Rs 80 for small vehicles, Rs 250 for small cargo vehicles, Rs 140 for buses, and between Rs 120 and Rs 700 for trucks, depending on their weight.