The Arvind Kejriwal Government is unable to plan and execute entry tax on polluting vehicles that enter the city round the clock. The confusion within the AAP Government over the collection of tax from commercial vehicles entering the city is causing a revenue loss of crores of rupees to the State exchequer, according to sources.
After proposing levying of tax on commercial vehicles entering the city in its maiden Budget a month ago, the Arvind Kejriwal Government is yet to identify the agency that should be tasked with this job, said sources.
There are 127 entry points in the national Capital. Estimates suggest that the absence of any nodal agency to execute this work is causing whopping monthly loss of Rs 60 crore to the State exchequer.
Officers now say the AAP Government has announced the proposal in a haste and necessary home work was not done. It was also not cleared that which agency will get the taks to collect the entry tax and how it will be implemented. According to a report of transport commissioner, there was no clarity over which of the three departments — urban development, environment or transport was the nodal agency for the tax collection. Unless the Government notifies the agency to collect the anti-pollution tax from the commercial vehicles and a mechanism to verify vehicles from the other states, it just cannot be implemented, said sources, adding, that in the meeting of the heads of departments chaired by Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia, a committee headed by the transport commissioner reportedly submitted in its report that there was a total confusion about which department should act as the nodal agency for collection of tax from the vehicles entering the city.
The transport commissioner is said to have stated that the municipal corporations were the best suited agencies to collect fee at 127 entry points in Delhi. The officers were of the view that the nodal department should be empowered to have working arrangement with the agencies of the contractors appointed by the municipal bodies to collect the entry fee till new arrangements were worked out. The question is whether the AAP Government allowed BJP ruled three MCDs to collect entry fee from polluting vehicles coming to Delhi from other StatesIJ
“The nodal department would be bound to bring before the Cabinet about decisions which are taken after finalising the working arrangement with the municipal bodies and its contractors. It was suggested in the meeting that the work could be executed through a new tender after the term of the operators of the municipal bodies comes to an end,” said sources.
In the Budget, the Government had said a large number of heavy goods diesel vehicles entering the city were causing air pollution. As an interim measure, the Government had decided to levy a fee on entry of commercial vehicles in the national Capital. The Government had proposed Rs100 as entry fee on tempos, Rs500 on four wheelers, Rs750 on six wheeler vehicles, Rs1,000 on 10 wheeler trucks and Rs1,500 on 14 wheeler vehicles. It is estimated that three to four lakh commercial vehicles come to Delhi from other States daily.
According to officials, the environment department had been tasked to issue a notification after the operational issues were sorted out. “In any case, the nodal department will have to finalise the arrangement within 15 days since the notional revenue loss is above Rs60 crore per month,” a copy of the meeting of the minutes accessed by The Pioneer said.