Govt to increase vehicle reg charges massively

With an aim of discouraging petrol and diesel vehicles, phasing out old ones and promoting electric vehicles, the ministry of road transport has recently proposed in a draft notification to increase the two fees in case of most categories of vehicles running on conventional fuel. The new registration fee will be Rs 1,000 against the current Rs 50 for two-wheelers. The renewal charges for the same will be Rs 2,000. Meanwhile, in the case of cabs, the registration fee and renewal charges will be Rs 10,000 and Rs 20,000 respectively, with an increase from the current Rs 1,000. The new registration fee will be Rs 20,000 against the current Rs 2,500 in case of imported motorcycles. “We have sought feedback from all stakeholders before notifying the final fee structure in the next 40-45 days,” said an official. A draft proposal has already been notified by the ministry to do away with registration fee of electric or battery-operated vehicles. Moreover, people buying new vehicles after scrapping old polluting ones will be exempt from paying the registration fee. “The proposal of steep increase in the renewal fee for commercial vehicles, particularly trucks, buses and other heavy vehicles by nearly 27 times is aimed at making people opt for scrapping them once they are over 15-year old,” said a government official. As per the proposal, an additional fee of Rs 50 will be charged for each day, if the owners of more than 15-year-old vehicles fail to get fresh fitness certificate before they expire.