The Union Minister of Road Transport and Highways, Nitin Gadkari, has introduced the Vehicle Scrapping Policy on March 18, 2021 in the Lok Sabha which will come into effect from April 1, 2021. It was first announced by Finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman in her Union Budget Speech 2021-2022 on February 1, 2021.
Highlights
The Union Minister for Road Transport and Highways highlighted that; 51 lakhs of the light motor vehicles which are 20 years old and more will be scrapped under this policy. He further stated that, 34 lakhs of light motor vehicles are older than 15 years while around 51 lakhs of light motor vehicles are older than 20 years. According to him, 17 lakh medium & heavy commercial vehicles are older than 15 years.
About Vehicle Scrapping Policy
The Union Minister highlighted that this scrapping policy will bring the transformational changes in automobile sector by reducing the vehicular emission of pollutants. The policy was introduced with the aim of creating an ecosystem to phase out the unfit, old and polluting vehicles. Under the policy, personal vehicles will have to undergo the fitness tests at the automated centres after 20 years. On the other hand, the commercial vehicles will have to undergo the fitness test after 15 years. If the vehicles failed to pass the fitness test for three times, the owner would not be able to drive it on the road.
Significance of the policy
The policy will help to encourage the environment-friendly, fuel-efficient vehicles. Thus, it will reduce the vehicular pollution and oil import bill. It will also improve the road safety. With the implementation of the new vehicles, recyclable materials such as steel, plastic and copper can be reused. Thus, the overall vehicle cost will be reduced. Once the old vehicles are scrapped, sale of the new vehicles will boost which will provide boost to the automobile industry of the country. It will also boost the fuel efficiency of the vehicles and would attract the investments.