Scrapping Vehicles (Indian Express)

14 Mar Scrapping Vehicles (Indian Express)

Context: 

• Now, the vehicle scrapping policy will grant owners of old vehicles to claim certificates which can then be utilized to get a deduction or a discount in registration fees while buying a new car. 
• Also, if an owner does not want to buy a new vehicle, he/she can even exchange the certificate or transfer it to someone else.
• This policy will be in place as suggested in the budget for a safer and cleaner environment drive.

Impact on Govt. vehicles:

• Government departments now will be unable to renew the registration of their vehicles that are older than 15 years from 1st April 2022, when this is published in the gazette notification.

Impact on commercial and personal vehicles:

• Commercial vehicles over 15 years to compulsorily test and register for successive scrapping. 
• In the case of personal vehicles, this time limit is set at 20 years. After that, it has to be compulsorily tested and register for eventual scrapping.
• The proposed policy also arranges for voluntary fitness tests. This can be done by the owner before the warranted time limit for the mandatory test. If the vehicle fails the test the first time, it gets a second chance for testing. If it fails for the second time well, then the vehicle will have to be mandatorily scrapped.

Govt strategy to make the policy viable:

• 26 Automated Fitness Centres as a model to state governments has been approved by the Union govt. 
• This will be completed in the next two years. The center expects the States to be flexible and proactive in setting up the support infrastructure. 
• To set up fitness centers, the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways has given guidelines to the states to equip land for free or even go for a Public-Private Partnership model. Private players can set up these fitness centers, which will be audited by the authorities.
• To disincentivize the use of old vehicles a Green Tax, independent of the scrapping policy is likely to keep the old vehicles expensive. Even if older vehicles pass the fitness test, registration charges will be higher than usual.
• Incentivizing scrapping of old vehicles will not only reduce pollution but also give big encouragement to the automobile industry and grow its size by 33 percent.
• Additionally, it will create around 35,000 new jobs in times of high unemployment.

Ajit Satapathy