Governor Jagdeep Dhankhar on Thursday gave his consent that will allow the government to table the West Bengal Motor Vehicles Tax (Amendment) Bill in the Assembly, which will pave the way for bike taxis to be formally accepted as transport vehicles in Bengal.

The term “Bike Taxi” broadly refers to two-wheelers that either carry passengers or goods such as food items.

Thousands of such bike taxis operate, a bulk of them engaged in food delivery business, across Calcutta. They aren’t commercially registered and operators are penalised in case of police crackdown.

Most bike taxi operators said the conversion into a commercial vehicle would mean they would be considered as “contract carriage” operators under Central Motor Vehicles Rules. This would invite a yearly tax of around Rs 8,000.

The bill proposes that two-wheeler owners with private registration will have to pay an annual tax of Rs 780 if they register their vehicles as commercial ones.

Metro had reported earlier the government was considering a proposal to reduce the annual road tax for commercial two-wheelers in a bid to encourage bikers on e-commerce, app cab and food delivery platforms to switch from private to commercial registration.

There will be a formal notification once the Assembly passes the bill.

“The idea is to generate employment and ensure these youths are following the existing rules,” a the transport department official said.