Vehicles pay green tax to enter Shimla

Collection of green tax from all vehicles registered outside Himachal Pradesh has begun on a choppy note on the outskirts of state capital Shimla.

Instead of a smooth and quick passage through computerised toll barriers , there was a slow and laboured toll collection at four entry points, frustrating tourists .

The busiest entry point was at Tara Devi on the Kalka-Shimla highway, where queues as long as 3km were seen as tourists waited for long periods to enter Shimla.

There are three other points where a green fee is collected — Totu on the Bilaspur-Shimla highway, Maille and Dhalli.

 

Shimla Municipal Comm-issioner M P Sood said the collection of the green fee has been outsourced to the V K Group, which will bring in around Rs 6 crore per annum to the fund-starved civic body .

The fee will be charged once a week for all vehicles registered outside the state. A car will have to pay Rs 200 , SUVs Rs 300 , trucks and buses Rs 500 and two-wheelers Rs 100.

Manali , another important tourist destination, is also charging green tax on vehicles .

The Shimla civic body is expected to create more facilities for tourists with this money that the green tax will bring in.

Some are saying that the imposition of the tax will discourage vehicles from outside the state to enter Shimla ,which is already highly congested due to a lack of space.