Telangana to Introduce One-Time Road Safety Cess on Vehicles from March 1

Hyderabad: The Telangana Transport Department will be charging a one-time road safety cess upon registration of vehicles in the state from March 1.

A sum of Rs.10,000 would be charged as road safety cess for all non-transport vehicles and transport vehicles other than motorcycles and light motor vehicles — and except for three-wheel contract carriages like the passenger auto rickshaws — with a seating capacity of four, five, six and seven in all.

The cess for non-transport vehicles like motorcycles is Rs.2000; and this would be Rs.5,000 for light motor vehicles, except for tractors and tractor-trailers used for agricultural purposes.

A Telangana gazette notification states that the road safety cess is aimed at organising additional funds for road safety. “This shall be applicable to such categories of vehicles and at such rates as specified in the 9th Schedule.” The amount thus collected shall be credited to a dedicated, non-lapsable bank account, it stated.

The state assembly passed the bill to this effect on January 2, as presented by transport minister Ponnam Prabhakar.

Along with this, new four wheel light goods carriages being registered in the state will attract a lifetime tax -- some 7.5 per cent of the entire cost of the vehicle. This replaces the old quarterly slab.

As per new law, the vehicles that are “more than three years but less than six years old” will attract a tax of 5 per cent of total cost of the vehicle. For vehicles that are more than six years old, the tax would be 4 per cent.