Delhi to get London-like congestion tax: Get ready to pay to drive on roads

The Delhi government could soon introduce a traffic congestion tax to reduce congestion during peak hours in the city. According to a recent report, the government is working on a “congestion pricing" strategy wherein drivers will be charged for using specific roads in the national capital during peak traffic hours.

Delhi Congestion Tax: What You Need To Know

The report further suggests that 13 key locations on Delhi’s borders have been identified for the congestion tax in the pilot phase. A parliamentary committee had recommended a similar suggestion in 2017 to levy tolls on congested stretches in the capital. A similar plan was discussed in 2018 when then Lt. Governor Anil Baijal proposed charging vehicles entering congested road stretches during peak hours.

At the time, Delhi had identified 21 high-traffic stretches including the ITO intersection and Mehrauli-Gurgaon Road, as potential areas for the congestion tax. More recently, Bengaluru has also been under scrutiny with authorities suggesting imposing a congestion tax in the Karnataka capital. The city’s traffic snarls have led to massive furore online, not to mention it is at the centre of many jokes and memes. Karnataka’s planning department and industry group released a report titled ‘Karnataka’s Decade - Roadmap to $1 Trillion Economy’, which suggested using the existing FASTag system to collect congestion charges from non-exempt vehicles in Bengaluru during peak hours.

That said, a congestion tax isn’t exactly new and many metro cities across the world have similar toll tax on vehicles. This is particularly true for London, UK, which levies a congestion charge to enter central London. The move aims to not only reduce congestion but also air pollution caused by vehicular traffic. Apart from London, cities like Singapore and Stockholm have also implemented congestion taxes to reduce traffic and pollution.

There is no timeline announced for when the government plans to begin levying the congestion charge. With that said, the Delhi government would also want to improve the road conditions in the process, which remains a work in progress in most parts of the national capital.

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