DMRC recommends metro cess on petrol and diesel

The Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC) has recommended to the state government to levy a separate metro cess on the sale of petrol and diesel in the state to fund metro projects. The DMRC has also recommended levying additional charges on registration of new vehicles with it charging a one-time green cess on existing vehicles to generate funds for metro projects.

The DMRC is involved in the execution of various metro projects in the city and has recommended the same in various detailed project reports (DPR) of the metro projects.

“It is recommended that the state government set up a transit fund to fund the project out of revenues from increased Floor Area Ratio (FAR) that is Floor Space Index (FSI) along the metro corridors, levy metro cess on sale of petrol and diesel in the state with it to levy additional cess on the property tax,” recommended the DMRC in the DPRs.

However, a similar proposal to levy a metro cess on the sale of petrol and diesel was scrapped by the then Prithviraj Chavan-led Congress-NCP government in 2013 for the construction of Pune Metro.

When contacted, finance minister Sudhir Mungantiwar said, “As of now the proposal has not come to me and I do not think that levying a metro cess on the sale of petrol and diesel is a good and feasible option but we have already gone ahead with giving more FSI along metro corridors for generating revenue for the project.”