Relief for cab, auto, school buses at Delhi border! NCR states sign pact for seamless movement of passenger vehicles

In a major respite to cabs, taxis, auto-rickshaws, school buses, and all mass public transportation vehicles, the governments of Delhi, Haryana, Rajasthan, and Uttar Pradesh have signed a new agreement to facilitate seamless movement of passenger vehicles in the National Capital Region (NCR). The NCR states have taken this decision with a view to encourage passenger shift from private to public transport to contribute towards a reduction in pollution in NCR. The agreement would result in a revenue loss of around ₹100 crore annually to the NCR states.

“The Governments of Delhi, Haryana, Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh of NCR have signed a Combined Reciprocal Common Transport Agreements (CRCTA) covering both contract carriage & stage carriage since time period of earlier agreements of reciprocal common transport agreement was coming to an end,” Ministry of Housing & Urban Affairs said in a release on Friday.

The agreement — Combined Reciprocal Common Transport Agreements (CRCTA) — has been implemented with immediate effect and shall be valid for the next 10 years. This would help ease traffic congestion and reduce air pollution in Delhi and its adjacent areas.

According to the ministry, the new agreement proposes single-point taxation to state-owned transport bodies wherein road tax shall be payable by them only in one NCR state and exempted from such fees in other NCR states. All permits or licenses, including temporary ones, will be issued only on Vaahan Software, as updated from time to time.

“The agreement provides for countersigning of permits/licenses for motor cabs/Taxis/Auto Rickshaw registered in NCR for seamless movement single point taxation for mass public transport vehicles of State transport undertaking inter-city buses, to ease traffic congestion and reduce air pollution, Clean Emission Norms as per Government of India, provisions for aggregators and e-vehicles as per MoRTH/MoP guidelines, etc,” the ministry notified.

Here are key highlights of Combined Reciprocal Common Transport Agreements (CRCTA):

• All motor cabs/taxis/auto rickshaws; all educational institution vehicles; and all stage carriage buses of state transport undertakings (including city bus services) of NCR participating states will be covered under this agreement.

• All permits/licenses including temporary permits/licenses (contract carriage and also stage carriage, as applicable) shall be issued only on Vaahan Software, as updated from time to time.

• The age of the stage carriage vehicles as well as contract carriage vehicles shall be limited to ten years for diesel vehicles and fifteen years for petrol/CNG vehicles till any further directions are issued in this regard.

• All public service vehicles (except those specifically exempted by the government), shall be mandatorily fitted with Vehicle Location Tracking Device (VLTD) and one or more emergency buttons to comply with road ministry notifications or as applicable from time to time.

• The CRCTA shall come into force with immediate effect, for ensuring seamless movement of passenger vehicles in NCR shall be valid for next 10 years.

The exemption in such taxes would lead to revenue losses to the NCR states. “The NCR States have agreed to forego such revenues in the larger public interest of cleaner NCR. Such revenue loss is estimated to be around ₹100 crore annually,” the statement added.

The ministry further stated that NCR states shall take initiative to computerise the database of drivers, vehicle registration and other related information in the NCR districts on priority basis. “States should also endeavor to implement the usage of RFID, speed control device, FASTag, trauma care, single window tax collection, bar-coding of finger-prints of drivers and GPS vehicle tracking system in a phased manner,” it said.