‘Old vehicles scrap policy on cards’

“Along with Niti Aayog, we have almost finalised the scrapping policy. This would lead to the scrapping of vehicles older than 15 years,” said Gadkari after inaugurating three electric vehicle charging points at Niti Aayog.

Though he declined to divulge further details, it is learnt that the government is considering tax benefits for scrapping 15-year-old vehicles. For this it may approach the Goods and Services Tax (GST) Council.

The government has been working on formulating a vehicle scrapping policy to reduce fuel-guzzling and polluting old models, to recycle and bring down the cost of components and to make transport green and cost-effective.

“We have a Rs 4.5 lakh crore automobile industry. The scrapping of old vehicles would fetch us plastic, rubber, aluminium, copper and steel. The waste coming out from scrapping units in ports and automobile clusters would bring down the cost of raw materials and spare parts. This would boost our exports,” he said. The government has been planning to scrap all Medium and Heavy Commercial Vehicles (MCHV), which account for 2.5 per cent of the country’s total vehicles but contribute over 60 per cent of the air pollution.  The Delhi government is also planning to come out with a policy scrapping passenger cars older than 15 years.

Initially, the Union government may propose a voluntary vehicle modernisation programme followed by a regulation determining the life of vehicles. It may provide incentives to vehicle owners like payment of scrap value and discount from auto majors at the time of purchasing a new vehicle after scrapping the older one.

Vehicular pollution is the major cause of air pollution. The emissions from the vehicles contribute to rising levels of toxic carbon monoxide, nitrogen oxides, hydrocarbons and particulate matter. 

Last year, the National Green Tribunal (NGT) had ordered the removal of all decade-old diesel vehicles from the roads of the National Capital Region (NCR). The Supreme Court rejected appeals challenging the ban.