Kerala govt to exempt autorickshaws from ‘green tax’

Thiruvananthapuram: Kerala Finance Minister K N Balagopal on Wednesday said autorickshaws would be exempted from the ‘green tax’ imposed on diesel vehicles, announced in the recent state budget.

The minister informed the Assembly about the new decision during his reply on the three-day-long general discussion on the budget which concluded here this evening.

The ‘green tax’ imposed on the old vehicles (above 15 years) was increased by 50 per cent in the budget for 2022-23 fiscal, presented last week.

While presenting the budget, he had said it was necessary to discourage the use of diesel vehicles and encourage electric vehicles.

“It is decided to exempt autorickshaws from the tax imposed on diesel vehicles….Green tax is not about money but it is a message,” Balagopal said today. He also said the government is not in a position to increase the welfare pension right now due to the cash crunch as even a mere hike of Rs 1,000 would cost the state exchequer Rs 1,000 crore. However, he assured the House that the government would take stringent measures to reclaim the pension amount received by undeserved people.

Giving MLAs a reason to cheer, he said the asset development fund of legislators, which was slashed from Rs five crore to Rs one crore each to meet the emergency needs during the outbreak of COVID-19, would be reinstated as such.

Additional projects worth over Rs 45 crore, which did not find place in the budget, were announced by the minister during the reply.

The Left government in Kerala on Friday presented a budget which made huge allocations to information technology, industries and infrastructure.

The first complete budget of the second term of the Pinarayi Vijayan-headed government for the fiscal 2022-23 found a place in the history of the State Assembly as the first-ever paperless budget as Balagopal presented it through an i-pad.