Vehicles entering Shimla to be charged green fee

Shimla, November 22

The Shimla Municipal Corporation will start charging green fee from vehicles not bearing Himachal Pradesh registration numbers from early next year. Proposed long ago, this resource-generation initiative has not seen the light of day due to one reason or the other. As per an estimate, it is likely to generate over Rs 12 crore annually for the civic body.

Was earlier introduced in 2014

• Green fee was also introduced in Shimla in 2014 and a barrier installed near Tara Devi. It was later discontinued due to snarl-ups and some technical issues related to the barrier
• As per the MC’s proposal, buses and trucks will be charged a fee of Rs 300, cars Rs 200 and two-wheelers Rs 50

To charge green fee, the civic body had planned to set up a barrier at the outer limits of the corporation, but it was denied permission by the National Highways Authority of India. As a result, the project had to be shelved for sometime. But now the civic body is planning to charge green fee without installing a barrier. For this purpose, MC officials have been consulting few private firms who suggested that tax can be collected without establishing a toll barrier.

The Shimla MC has tasked these private firms to prepare detailed report based on which it would grant work to the firm with better solution. MC officials have also sought suggestions on how much expenditure the new technique would incur and what would be manpower requirements for the implementation.

Bhuwan Sharma, Joint Commissioner, Shimla MC, said: “We are planning to levy green fee from vehicles entering the city from other states soon. But permission was not granted by authorities concerned for setting up a barrier. Now, we have sought suggestions from private firms who have claimed that green fee can be charged without installing a barrier. We have sought detailed report on the technique and after deliberations, the work would be granted to the firm with best solution.”

Meanwhile, hoteliers have been raising the issue regarding the hiked tax on vehicles from other states saying the tourism sector is getting affected. If the green tax is imposed, the tourism sector will be further hit, they say.