Road safety cess only on new vehicles: Ponnam Prabhakar

Hyderabad: Transport Minister Ponnam Prabhakar has clarified that the newly proposed road safety cess will be levied exclusively on newly registered vehicles. Crucially, the Minister confirmed that auto-rickshaws and tractor-trolleys will be exempt from this additional charge.

Replying to a discussion on ‘The Telangana Motor Vehicles Taxation (Amendment) Bill 2025’ in the Legislative Assembly on Friday, Ponnam Prabhakar announced a shift in the tax structure for light goods vehicles. Moving away from the previous quarterly tax system, a lifetime tax of 7.5 per cent has been imposed on newly registered four-wheeler light goods vehicles and goods autos.

The Minister noted that the road safety cess set at Rs 2,000 for two-wheelers, Rs 5,000 for light motor vehicles, and Rs 10,000 for heavy vehicles aligns with Supreme Court directives already implemented in states such as Maharashtra and Karnataka.

Highlighting the urgency of the measure, the Minister cited a recent statement by the Telangana DGP regarding the high mortality rate in road accidents. To combat this, the state is observing National Road Safety Month throughout January. As part of the awareness drive, students will be required to submit affidavits from parents pledging to follow safety rules, while UNICEF-backed Children’s Traffic Awareness Parks are being established in schools.

Addressing infrastructure and enforcement, the Minister admitted that the thousand-strong transport department cannot individually monitor all 1.8 crore vehicles in the state.

“Everyone should check their vehicle’s fitness and follow road rules,” he urged, citing the tragic Vikarabad bus accident as a consequence of negligence. The government is now installing speed cameras and working to eliminate “black spots” on state highways.

On the environmental front, Ponnam Prabhakar highlighted the success of the state’s EV policy in curbing pollution, despite a revenue loss of approximately Rs 1,000 crore. With Hyderabad’s air quality index exceeding 300 recently, the Minister emphasised the importance of the scrap policy for vehicles older than 15 years and the introduction of automated driving testing stations. He also noted that Telangana has finally joined the national Vahan Sarathi platform, a move he claimed was neglected for the past decade.