With transport vehicles that are more than 15 years old still plying on the city’s roads, the Transport Department has issued notices to the Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC), asking it to either replace them or operate them elsewhere.
According to rules, transport vehicles that have completed 15 years of service should either be replaced or operated outside the GHMC’s jurisdiction.
The Corporation owns about 650 vehicles, of which nearly 70, particularly garbage trucks, have completed the prescribed service period, transport department authorities inform.
“But for the last one year, the GHMC has not obtained fitness certificates for these vehicles and continues to operate them at will. We have issued notices instructing them to pay Green Tax for these vehicles and operate them outside the GHMC limits,” says a senior transport official.
The Corporation has been paying about Rs. 4 lakh as Green Tax every year.
When vehicles are sent for fitness verification, the transport department checks the life and service of a vehicle. Based on the inspection, regular Road and Green Tax are charged and replacement of vehicles that have crossed the 15-year service sought.
Going slow
The Transport Department has also been lenient this year since stringent action could force the old fleet to go off the roads and disrupt garbage clearance in the city.
Apart from old vehicles, nearly 60 per cent of the 650-odd vehicles were yet to obtain fitness certificates this year. GHMC pays about Rs. 60 lakh annually towards Road Tax for its vehicles.
However, on receipt of notices, GHMC authorities have sought a month’s time to examine all their vehicles and replace the old ones in a phased manner, besides paying necessary Road Tax for rest of them, adds the official.
