Govt may look at a policy for scrappage of vehicles based on pollution, not age: MORTH Secretary

The government on Tuesday said it was working on a policy for scrappage of vehicles to be based on pollution and not on the age of the automobiles, which could be a boon for many customers who have kept their vehicles in good condition.

Speaking at the 64^th annual convention of Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers (SIAM), Anurag Jain, Secretary, Ministry of Road Transport & Highways, asked the automobile industry to help the government in designing the programme of pollution checks and make it “trustworthy”.

“People tell us that if they’ve maintained their vehicle well, why should they be mandated to scrap it? We are studying whether we can enforce a scrapping mandate where the upper limit is relative to the pollution of the vehicle, for example, pre-BS-1 or pre-BS-2, instead of the 15-year mandate,” he said.

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Petrol vehicles older than 15 years and diesel vehicles over 10 years are not allowed to ply on Delhi-NCR roads with the Supreme Court in 2018 ordering them off the roads as a step to keep older and polluting vehicles away, based on the National Green Tribunal’s guidelines. There have been similar strictures around the 15-year age limit in certain other States over growing pollution. In a number of States, personal vehicles have to undergo a fitness test after 15 years. If they pass the test, the registration will get renewed for five years. If they don’t, the vehicles must get scrapped.

However, the restriction has seen complaints by a number of vehicle owners who claim that they have maintained their cars well, and thus it was unfair to send them for scrapping.

Fitness check

“I would request all of you (representatives from automotive sector) to help us out in designing the programme of pollution checks... All of us right now know how to get the certificates. So, instead of getting the certificates, you have to have a trustworthy certificate. For that, I want feedback from you...what are the issues? How do we get it?, because the kind of reach you have in this network is unmatched,” Jain said.

Jain further said that a trustworthy fitness check on the vehicles can make it clear whether the vehicles are fit to run on the roads. He also lauded the automobile industry for its support to the current vehicle scrappage policy by offering discounts of up to three per cent on new purchases for old, scrapped vehicles.