Govt vehicles older than 15 years to go off the road from 1 April

Nitin Gadkari said that the government is taking many steps to facilitate the use of ethanol, methanol, bio-CNG, bio-LNG and electric vehicles.

The Union minister said, “We have now approved the scrapping of more than nine lakh government vehicles, which are more than 15 years old, and polluting buses and cars will go off the road and new vehicles with alternative fuels will replace them.”

“This will further reduce air pollution to a great extent,” Nitin Gadkari said.

All state and Central government-owned vehicles including the buses owned by transport corporations and public sector undertakings that have been on the road for over 15 years will be scrapped.

“Disposal of such vehicles shall, after the expiry of 15 years from the date of the initial registration of the vehicle, (should) be ensured through the Registered Vehicle Scrapping Facility set up in accordance with the Motor Vehicles (Registration and Functions of Vehicle Scrapping Facility) Rules, 2021,” the government notification had said.

The policy which provides for fitness tests after 20 years for personal vehicles and 15 years for commercial vehicles was announced in Union Budget 2021-22. Under the new policy which is effective from April 1, 2022, the Centre has said states and Union Territories will provide up to 25 per cent tax rebate on road tax for vehicles that are purchased after scrapping old vehicles.

Last year, Nitin Gadkari had said he looked to develop at least one automobile scrapping facility within 150 kilometres from each city centre while asserting that the country has the potential to become a vehicle scrapping hub of the entire South Asian region.

(With agency inputs)