The environment compensation charge that was supposed to be collected from commercial vehicles entering Delhi from Sunday was a no-go on Day 1 as the authorities and the toll tax concessionaire failed to implement the Supreme Court order.
In an attempt to curb vehicular pollution, the apex court had on October 12 ordered the toll tax contractor to collect Rs.700 from light duty vehicles and Rs.1,300 from those with three axles and above for four months starting November 1. The money collected was supposed to be handed over to the Delhi Government every Friday without any reductions.
The municipal corporations of Delhi, which are responsible for the 122 entry points, said their contractor SMYR Consortium had refused to do so.
“The contractor said it would lead to a loss as well as jams as they would have to check which vehicles were exempt from paying toll tax. We have written to the contractor and I have personally met them and asked them to obey the order,” said Subhash Arya, the Mayor of the South Delhi Municipal Corporation.
The SDMC, which handles the toll tax contract on behalf of the three corporations, has even issued an order on Sunday to the contractor to implement the Supreme Court’s ruling.
Officials said they were hopeful that the contractor would be able to start charging the environment compensation in the next few days. SMYR Consortium had filed a plea on October 27 in the Supreme Court saying it would not be able to collect the additional tax. The SDMC had also filed an application on the same day seeking directions to the contractor to implement the order.
The matter will be heard on November 16.
Meanwhile, representatives from transporters’ unions had visited various entry points on Sunday to see what the impact of the charge would be on trucks. A team of the Indian Foundation of Transport Research and Training visited the toll tax plazas at Gurgaon, Badarpur and Kondli borders.
“To our shock, we found that the staff employed by the private toll tax contractor did not have any options to generate receipts for ECC in their software. Not only was the charge being levied, but highly polluting and overloaded trucks were making their way in unchecked,” said IFTRT senior fellow S.P. Singh.
Mr. Singh said the transport unions were opposed to the ECC being levied on diesel trucks. “We are of the opinion that registration of diesel cars and SUVs must be halted in Delhi and the NCR and the existing pollution-control and emission norms should be strengthened,” said Mr. Singh.
