Hefty vehicle registration charges in the offing

Are you planning to buy a new diesel or petrol vehicle? Then you should know that you will soon have to pay a hefty amount for registration.
Government of India is trying to curb the use of petrol and diesel vehicles. Thus, the road transport ministry has proposed a plan to increase the registration fees on all diesel and petrol vehicles, Times of India reported.

Currently, one has to pay Rs 600 for registration of new four-wheeler automobile and same for renewing it. Soon, Rs 5,000 will be charged for registration of new four-wheelers and Rs 10,000 for renewing the registration for petrol and diesel vehicle.

In case of motorbikes, currently, one has to pay Rs 50 for registration and the same amount to renew it for every five years. If the reported proposal comes into the effect, one has to cough up Rs 1,000 and Rs 2,000 to renew it.

For commercial taxis, the draft proposes to hike registration fees to Rs 10,000 and renewal charges to Rs 20,000 against the current system, which charges Rs 1,000 for the same aforementioned service.

Those who are interested in buying imported motorcycles will have to shell out Rs 20,000 as registration fees against the previous fees of Rs 2,500.

While the government is planning to increase the registration charges on petrol and diesel vehicle, they are proposing to exempt electric and battery-operated vehicles from paying registration fees.

"The proposal of a steep increase in the renewal fee for commercial vehicles, particularly trucks, buses and other heavy vehicles by nearly 27 times is aimed at making people opt for scrapping them once they are over 15-years old," said an official to TOI.

The government has also proposed to charge Rs 50 for each day if a person fails to get a new fitness certificate before it expires. Moreover, a 15-year-old vehicle will have to get their fitness test done twice a year.

The government has also drafted to improve the quality of public transport to make it disabled-friendly such as priority seats, handrails, walkers, wheelchair entry and locking system.