Over 4 crore old vehicles on Indian roads, Karnataka tops list at 70 lakh

Over four crore vehicles older than 15 years are plying on roads pan-India and fall under the ambit of green tax, with Karnataka occupying the top slot with more than 70 lakh such vehicles.

The Ministry of Road Transport and Highways has digitised the data of such vehicles throughout the country, excluding Andhra Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Telangana and Lakshadweep as their records were not available.

A proposal to levy green tax has already been sent to the states. More than four crore vehicles have been found to be older than 15 years, including over two crore which are more than 20 years old, as per the data.

The digitised vehicle records are as per the centralised Vahan database that excludes ''Andhra Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Telangana, and Lakshadweep'', the ministry said.

Uttar Pradesh occupies the second spot with 56.54 lakh vehicles, of which 24.55 lakh are older than 20 years. The capital Delhi is at the third place in terms of old and polluting vehicles at 49.93 lakh, of which 35.11 lakh are older than 20 years.

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The digitisation of vehicle numbers revealed that Kerala has 34.64 lakh such vehicles, followed by 33.43 lakh in Tamil Nadu, 25.38 lakh in Punjab and 22.69 lakh in West Bengal.

Maharashtra, Odisha, Gujarat, Rajasthan and Haryana have these vehicles in the range of 17.58 lakh and 12.29 lakh. The number of such vehicles ranges between 1 lakh and 5.44 lakh for Jharkhand, Uttarakhand, Chhattisgarh, Himachal Pradesh, Puducherry, Assam, Bihar, Goa, Tripura and the union territories of Dadra-Nagar Haveli and Daman and Diu. Rest of the states have such old and polluting vehicles below one lakh each, as per the central data.

The government plans to impose a green tax on old vehicles soon in a bid protect the environment and curb pollution. Vehicles like strong hybrids, electric vehicles and those running on alternate fuels like CNG, ethanol and LPG will be exempted. The revenue collected through the green tax will be utilised for tackling pollution, as per the ministry.

Road Transport and Highways Minister Nitin Gadkari in January this year had approved a proposal to levy a 'green tax' on old vehicles which are polluting the environment. The proposal has been sent to the states for consultation before it is formally notified.