The vehicles entering Uttarakhand from other states will have to pay a green cess from June 15, ranging between ₹20 to ₹80, depending on the categories of the vehicles.

Following the directions from the Pushkar Singh Dhami government, the state Transport Department finalized an auto deduction process of the green cess amount through fastags on the outside vehicles entering from the border of the state.

Advertisement

State Transport Corporation officials claimed that all necessary preparations have been completed for the implementation of the cess collection plan of the state government. Auto deduction of the green cess will take place only after the ascertaining that the vehicle is from another part of the country not Uttarakhand.

The officials further said that the department is giving final touches to the action plan, especially on implementing part of the software. The department has already hired a software firm for effective implementation of the plan.

As per the plan, auto deduction of the green cess amount fixed according to class of vehicles coming from other states will take place after the identification of the vehicle number. Earlier plans had said that it will be done directly through fastag stickers on the vehicles. However, it was felt that direct deduction may lead to complications and behavioural difficulties on the ground. It was felt that direct fastag deduction may not  help the department segregate vehicles’ and their places of origin. However, identification of vehicles with the help of Automatic Number Plate Recognition (ANPR) cameras will minimise the issue. This camera will recognize the number plate at the time of entry of the vehicle leading to auto deduction of the green cess from the fastag account on the basis of this number.

The Uttarakhand Transport Department has already finalised a company to develop software through the open tender process. The department is presently giving final touches to the. Its links with other websites related to it. Focus is on to link the software with central government’s transport deIt is being linked to other related websites including the Center’s Transport. Officials said online collection of the green cess will also help the state government to conjure up lakhs of rupees revenue from the large chunk of outside vehicles entering the state. Apart from this, the government will also get better information about the vehicles entering the state border.

Joint Transport Commissioner Sanat Kumar Singh has shared with the media that the online collection of green cess would by all means begin on June 15 or a couple of days later.

The green cess charges fixed for different vehicles include ₹40 for four wheelers, ₹20 for three wheelers, medium class vehicles ₹60 and ₹80 for heavy vehicles 80.