South Delhi Municipal Corporation today claimed there has been a drop in number of trucks and commercial vehicles entering Delhi after imposition of Environment Compensation Charge (ECC) following a Supreme Court order, leading to a 30 per cent dip in collection of toll tax.
The SDMC, nodal body for toll tax collection on behalf of three municipal corporations, receives weekly payment of around Rs 11 crore as toll tax from the contractor SMYR Consortium which has been collecting the tax at 124 entry points of Delhi bordering neighbouring states, said Radhe Shyam Sharma, Chairman of Standing Committee of SDMC.
"However, the weekly payment of toll tax, after imposition of Environment Compensation Charge (ECC) following the Supreme Court order, the contract paid us only Rs 7.50 crore deducting nearly Rs 3.50 crore claiming that the number of vehicles has fallen by 30 per cent, as they are not entering Delhi to avoid paying the green tax," he said.
The Supreme Court in its order had directed to charge Rs 1300 and Rs 700 as ECC from trucks and small commercial vehicles entering Delhi, in a bid to prevent rise in air pollution.
The contractor had earlier denied to collect the green tax citing various reasons including fall in toll tax collections due to the diversion of vehicles entering Delhi.
As per the court order collection of ECC was to begin from November 1 but it started from the night of November 6-7.
While agreeing to collect the ECC, the contractor had mentioned a fall in the number of vehicles by 30 per cent due to ECC.
"We will raise this issue in the court and urge to court to ensure that we are paid full amount of toll tax as per the contract. We will also demand a share in the green tax from the court," Sharma added.
