By Shishir Prashant 
PrashantNews
The Uttarakhand government has decided to impose green cess on vehicles coming from other states, an official statement said on Sunday.
Since such announcements have been made many times in the past, it was still not clear when the process of levying green cess would really begin. “We are serious now. We may start imposing green cess from December this year,” a government official said.
Different cess rates have been fixed for various vehicle categories — Rs 80 for small vehicles, Rs 250 for small cargo vehicles, Rs 140 for buses, and between Rs 120 and Rs 700 for trucks, depending on their weight.
The money collected from the cess will be spent on air pollution control, green infrastructure, and smart traffic management, the statement said.
“On the completion of 25 years of Uttarakhand, it is our commitment to make the state clean, green, and pollution-free. The revenue generated from the green cess will be used for air quality improvement, green infrastructure, and smart traffic management,” the statement quoted Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami as saying.
According to a Pollution Control Board’s study, the road dust (55%) is the largest source of air pollution in Dehradun while vehicle emissions contribute 7 percent.
Dr. Parag Madhukar Dhakate, Member Secretary of the State Pollution Control Board (UKPCB) the green cess will be the most effective steps to improve the city’s air quality.
Uttarakhand cities have performed exceptionally well in the Government of India’s “Clean Air Survey – 2024” – Rishikesh ranked 14th and Dehradun 19th. The state government will use the revenue from the green cess to further control the environmental degradation.
Main Objectives of the green cess:
- Reduction of air pollution and improvement of the Air Quality Index (AQI)
- Control of old polluting vehicles
- Promotion of clean fuel-based vehicles
- Improvement of road dust, tree plantation, and air monitoring networks
Key Features
- A green cess will be levied on vehicles coming from outside states
- Electric, hydrogen, solar, and battery vehicles will be exempted
- This is expected to generate an annual income for the state of approximately ₹100 crore
- This amount will be spent on air monitoring, road dust control, green cover expansion, and smart traffic systems