FM issues voluntary vehicle scrapping policy to eliminate old vehicles

NEW DELHI: Nirmala Sitaraman, Minister of Finance, Government of India, on Monday, February 2, issued the much-awaited voluntary vehicle scrapping policy to eliminate old polluting vehicles.

Delivering the Budget 2021–22 in Parliament, Sitaraman said that as part of the voluntary vehicle-scrapping policy, personal vehicles would undergo a fitness test after twenty years while commercial vehicles would require it after the completion of 15 years. She added that this will result in fuel-efficient and environment friendly vehicles while cutting on India’s huge import bills.

Nitin Gadkari, Minister for Road Transport & Highways, said last week that policy to scrap more than 15-year-old automobiles owned by government departments and public sector undertakings is expected to be notified soon and will be conducted from April 1, 2022.

On July 26, 2019, the government had petitioned amendments to motor vehicle norms to permit the scrapping of vehicles older than 15 years in an attempt to encourage the adoption of electrical vehicles. Gadkari had said on January 15 that they have submitted the proposal and he is expecting that they will get approval as early as possible for the scrapping policy. Further, he said that once the policy is approved, our nation will become an automobile hub and a decline in prices of automobiles will also be witnessed. Explaining the results of the policy, Gadkari said that recycled material from old vehicles will help reduce the prices, adding that the automobile industry’s turnover, which is Rs 4.5 lakh crore with Rs 1.45 lakh crore exports, will see an upsurge.

Previously, Sitaraman had said that a policy for the scrapping of old vehicles “is in the works” and will be announced after ministries concerned “fine tune” it. In May 2016, the government had proposed a draft Voluntary Vehicle Fleet Modernisation Programme that presented to take 28 million decade-old vehicles off the road.