Hyderabad: Telangana will impose a road safety cess on all new vehicle registrations, Transport Minister Ponnam Prabhakar announced on Friday while introducing the Telangana Motor Vehicles Taxation Bill 2025 in the Assembly.
The cess will apply at ₹2,000 for two-wheelers, ₹5,000 for light motor vehicles, and ₹10,000 for heavy vehicles. Four-wheeler light goods vehicles will now pay a one-time life tax of 7.5%, replacing the earlier quarterly tax. The change follows consultations with experts from the transport department.
Prabhakar said the cess aligns with Supreme Court directions and mirrors similar rules already in place in Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Maharashtra, and Gujarat.
Road safety cess to support traffic enforcement and education
The minister declared January 1 to 31 as National Road Safety Month and urged citizens to participate in awareness drives.
To enforce safety rules, schools must collect affidavits from students and their parents affirming compliance. The education and welfare departments will oversee school-level participation.
The government, in collaboration with UNICEF, will set up Children’s Traffic Awareness Parks in schools. Telangana currently employs 1,000 transport officials who manage 1.8 crore registered vehicles.
Prabhakar urged vehicle owners to check their vehicle fitness and follow traffic rules. The department has begun identifying accident-prone black spots and installing speed-monitoring cameras.
He also noted that Telangana’s electric vehicle policy has boosted EV use, which helps reduce pollution. The state plans to launch automatic driving testing stations based on Delhi’s model.