Minister for Road Transport and Highways, Shri Nitin Gadkari on March 18, 2021 announced the Vehicle Scrapping Policy in Lok Sabha.
Objectives
The objectives of the policy are to:
- reduce population of old and defective vehicles,
- achieve reduction in vehicular air pollutants to fulfil India’s climate commitments,
- improve road and vehicular safety,
- achieve better fuel efficiency,
- formalize the currently informal vehicle scrapping industry and
- boost availability of low-cost raw materials for automotive, steel and electronics industry.
Investment
The ecosystem is expected to attract additional investments of around Rs. 10,000 Crore and 35,000 job opportunities.
Criteria
- The criteria for a vehicle to be scrapped is primarily based on the fitness of vehicles through Automated Fitness Centres in case of commercial vehicles and Non-Renewal of Registration in case of private vehicles.
- The criteria is adapted from international best practices after a comparative study of standards from various countries like Germany, UK, USA and Japan.
- A Vehicle failing the fitness test or failing to get a renewal of its registration certificate may be declared as End of Life Vehicle.
- Criteria to determine vehicle fitness will be primarily emission tests, braking, safety equipment, among many other tests which are as per the Central Motor Vehicle Rules, 1989.
The Policy features
- It is proposed that commercial vehicles be de-registered after 15 years in case of failure to get the fitness certificate. As a disincentive measure, increased fees for fitness certificate and fitness test may be applicable for commercial vehicles 15 year onwards from the date of initial registration.
- It is proposed that Private Vehicles be de-registered after 20 years if found unfit or in case of a failure to renew registration certificate. As a disincentive measure, increased re-registration fees will be applicable for private vehicles 15 year onwards from the date of initial registration.
- It is being proposed that all vehicles of the Central Government, State Government, Municipal Corporation, Panchayats, State Transport Undertakings, Public Sector Undertakings and autonomous bodies with the Union and State Governments may be de-registered and scrapped after 15 years from the date of registration.
- The scheme shall provide strong incentives to owners of old vehicles to scrap old and unfit vehicles through registered scrapping centres, which shall provide the owners with a scrapping certificate. Some of these incentives include:
Registered Vehicle Scrapping Facility (RVSF)
- The Ministry of Road Transport and Highways will promote setting up of Registered Vehicle Scrapping Facility (RVSF) across India and will encourage public and private participation for opening up of such centres.
- Efforts are also being made to set up Integrated Scrapping Facilities across India. Some of the identified places include Alang in Gujarat, where it is being planned to develop a highly specialized centre for scrapping, among many other potential centres, where different scrapping technologies can be synergized together.
