Vehicles start paying green tax to enter Shimla

Shimla : Collection of green tax from all non-Himachal vehicles began on a choppy note Saturday on the outskirts of this Himachal Pradesh capital .

Instead of a smooth and quick computerised toll barriers , there was a slow and laboured toll collection at four entry points frustrating tourists .

The busiest entry point was at Tara Devi on the Kalka-Shimla highway where queues as long as 3 kms were seen as tourists waited for long periods to enter Shimla .

There are three other points collecting gree fee , Totu on the Bilaspur-Shimla highway and also at Maille and Dhalli .

Shimla municipal commissioner M P Sood said the work to collect the green fee has been outsources to the V.K.Group which will pay around Rs 6 crore per annum to the fund starved Shimla civic body .

The fee will be charged once a week on all non-Himachal registered vehicles . A car will have to pay Rs 200 , SUVs Rs 300 , Trucks and buses Rs 500 and two wheelers Rs 100.

Manali , another important tourist destination is already charging green tax on vehicles .

The Shimla civic body is expected to create more facilities for tourists with this money .

Others are saying the imposition of this tax will automatically discourage outside vehicles to enter Shimla which is already highly congested due to lack of flat space.