Bengaluru: While the IT city which is struggling with traffic congestion, air pollution woes has been collecting a special tax named “green tax” for more than a decade, the authorities seem to have no plans on how to utilise the funds.This sounds strange considering the fact that while the city is still trying to make its way into the Smart City list, the authorities who should have had a sketch of how to utilise the taxes so collected with the intent of implementing various measures to reduce and control air pollution not only happen to have no plans for the same but also did not deem it necessary to keep a record of the funds so collected under the pretext of green tax.

The green tax is being levied on old vehicles that have completed a period of 15 years at the time of the renewal of their registration certificate. Two-wheelers are charged Rs 250, and other non-transport vehicles are charged Rs 500. Also, those vehicles that have completed seven years are levied with a charge of Rs 200 per annum.

As per a CAG report, an amount of Rs 45.9 Crore has been collected by the transport department from the financial year 2006-07 to 2014-15 under the bracket but what happens of it is a mystery!

The department reportedly, begun collecting this tax since April 2002 however, no records of the collections as also the expenditure were maintained for the first two years.

It also reveals that the transport department has improperly accounted the green tax and that there is no uniformity in the accounting of the these transactions, and also the receipts of this tax do not vary from the receipts of other charges!