In a bid to curb air pollution and encourage consumers to switch to environmental-friendly alternatives, the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways (MoRTH) recently approved a proposal to levy a green tax on old vehicles. As reported by IANS, Indian Auto LPG Coalition (IAC) advocated that the government should provide incentives to people shifting to cleaner fuels. Notedly, electric vehicles, hybrid vehicles and vehicles running on clean alternative fuels such as LPG, CNG and ethanol will be exempted from the green tax.
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Vehicles running on clean alternative fuels such as LPG, CNG and ethanol will be exempted from the green tax.
The government aims to penalise consumers for environmental pollution in the country with this initiative. Welcoming this move as a step in the right direction, the Indian Auto LPG Coalition (IAC) suggested that penalising polluters should be accompanied by reward to customers for using clean fuels.
Suyash Gupta, Director General, Indian Auto LPG Coalition told IANS, "India's choking cities need to shift a large number of their private vehicles to clean alternative fuels immediately and pushing consumers to switch their existing vehicles to clean alternatives is the quickest way to achieve this. This is why a penalty for polluters must also be accompanied by reward or incentives for citizens switching to clean fuels to make it more impactful."
The nodal body for the promotion of Auto LPG in India said petrol and diesel vehicles including cars, two-wheelers and three-wheelers can be easily converted to Auto LPG or CNG by installing conversion kits. These conversion kits cost around Rs. 25,000. The body believes that these conversion kits can be made more affordable with GST cuts and subsidy. The Indian government levies a GST of 28 per cent on the conversion kits.
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MoRTH recently approved a proposal to levy a green tax on old vehicles to curb air pollution
Gupta further said, "Rationalising this prohibitive GST rate on conversion kits to 5 per cent has been a long-pending plea of the Auto LPG sector. Reducing this GST rate will make conversion kits more affordable for mass usage."
He also added, "The government must also consider subsidising conversion kits for consumers as a move towards incentivizing personal vehicle users to shift to clean gaseous fuels at a mass level. The green tax on polluting vehicles together with incentives for consumers shifting to clean fuels can have a quick and remarkable effect on India's urban air quality."
