Hyderabad, April 27: The poor vehicle owner in Hyderabad is at the receiving end once again.
He may have to pay 50 paise to Rs 1 extra on every litre of petrol he buys at petrol pumps all because the state government wants to create what is known as Urban Transport Fund.
Now, what is this Urban Transport Fund anyway? The United Metropolitan Transport Authority (UMTA), which has been created recently with a brief to ensure a united and integrated transport system, needs money. The best way for it is to create a fund by squeezing money from motorists.
Already, petrol costs the most in Hyderabad among all cities in India. To sustain UMTA and to create exclusive fund for UTF, it was proposed to levy cess to the tune of 50 paise to Re 1 per litre on petrol in GHMC limits.
This will be in addition to 10 percent of the road tax collected and a part of the amounts collected by the traffic police from erring motorists.
This proposal came up at a meeting of the UMTA held under the chairmanship of chief secretary SV Prasad at the Secretariat on Monday.
It was attended by officials of GHMC, Hyderabad Metropolitan Development Authority (HMDA), Hyderabad Metro Rail (HMR), AP State Road Transport Corporation (APSRTC), Hyderabad and Cyberabad police, AP Pollution Control Board (APPCB), and other departments.
Senior officials told Express that as the government was planning a holistic development and transportation plan. it is necessary to levy cess on petrol for the betterment of transportation system in Greater Hyderabad.
Government has formed a special purpose vehicle for managing the fund, they said.
They said UMTA had powers to take decisions on all major infrastructure projects in the city, like construction of flyovers, bus terminals and other projects.
It has the power to direct different agencies involved in implementation of traffic and transportation policies.
—–AGencies