Delhi civic bodies boost toll tax revenue by Rs 6 crore

The municipal corporations in Delhi have been able to boost their monthly toll tax revenue by over Rs 6 crore after a new concessionaire, which started working from February 1, made three weekly payments.

South Delhi Municipal Corporation (SDMC), the nodal agency for toll tax collection for the three corporations in the city, has hired a new concessionaire DEP Toll Tax to collect tax as well as the Environment Compensation Charge (ECC).

“The new concessionaire hired for a period of nine months has made three weekly payments of Rs 12.20 crore each, so far. By the end of February, it will pay us Rs 48.80 crore,” Radhe Shyam Sharma, chairman of SDMC’s Standing Committee, said.

“The previous concessionaire, SMYR Consortium, which exited contract at the end of January, used to pay Rs 10.54 crore as weekly toll tax payment. After the new concessionaire started working, the monthly toll tax revenue has increased by Rs 6.64 crore,” Sharma said.

The SMYR Consortium, which was hired for three years in July 2015, was bound to pay Rs 551 crore annually to the civic body in lieu of toll tax collected by it, while the DEP Toll Tax hired for a period of nine months will pay Rs 488 crore to SDMC, he said.

The previous concessionaire walked out of the contract after it was made to realise the Green Tax imposed by the Supreme Court on commercial vehicles entering the city.

The Apex Court in its order in October last year had directed Delhi government and the SDMC to impose ECC on trucks and smaller commercial vehicles entering the city from November 1, 2015, in a bid to check air pollution.

The court had in January this year allowed SMYR Consortium to exit from its contract with SDMC, as it cited practical problems in collecting ECC and fall in Toll tax revenue because of vehicles avoiding entry in Delhi to save Green Tax.

As per official estimates around 50,000 commercial vehicles enter Delhi each day through 124 entry points on its border.