Trucks entering Delhi to pay green tax from tonight

 Delhi: Trucks and other commercial vehicles entering Delhi will now have to pay Economic Compensation Charge as the toll contractor of South Delhi Municipal Corporation has agreed to collect the green tax, along with toll tax, from midnight Friday as per direction of the Supreme Court.

"Toll tax contractor SMYR Consortium which had earlier refused to collect Economic Compensation Charge (ECC) has written a letter to SDMC authorities agreeing to collect it from 12 in the night today," said Rahdey Shyam Sharma, Chairman of Standing Committee of the civic body.

SDMC is nodal agency to collect toll tax on behalf of all the three municipal corporations in Delhi.

"The contractor has mentioned in its letter that a shortfall of 20 per cent in the number of vehicles entering Delhi has been noticed in the last three days and demanded SDMC to act accordingly to cover losses," Sharma said.

"We received a communication from Environment Pollution Control Authority (EPCA) yesterday clarifying the 11 issues raised by us and now we have decided to start collection of ECC from midnight today," said an SMYR Consortium director, seeking anonymity.

"There are still certain issues like loss of revenue due to diversion of vehicles avoiding entry in Delhi to save ECC which we will sort out with the MCD authorities and other stakeholders in the coming days," he said.

The Supreme Court, in its order on October 12, had directed for taking Environment Compensation Charge (ECC) of Rs 1,300 from trucks and Rs 700 from smaller commercial vehicles entering Delhi from November 1, in a bid to check high level of pollution in the city.

The court had directed for collection of ECC on an "experimental" basis for four months from November 1 to February 29.

The court order was, however, not implemented by SMYR Consortium expressing its "inability" to levy ECC citing "practical problems" including lack of infrastructure and manpower for it. The contractor had also given a legal notice to SDMC seeking clarification on 11 points related with collection of ECC.

Around 50,000 commercial vehicles, mostly trucks, enter Delhi everyday through 124 entry points.