NITI Aayog to raise issues regarding implementation of Vehicle Scrapping Policy at next governing council meet

New Delhi: With majority states dragging their feet on implementing the Vehicle Scrapping Policy, NITI Aayog proposes to bring it up at the next meeting of its governing council which includes heads of all states and union territories (UT) to ensure smooth implementation pan-India.

The move follows last month's meeting of NITI Aayog with the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways which said that though it was in constant engagement with the states and UTs and was urging them to expedite the release of policies, it was not making much

headway.

States need to release policies on automated testing stations (ATS) and registered vehicle scrapping facilities (RVSF), announce motor vehicle tax concession and waiver of liabilities to encourage owners to scrap their vehicles as well as outline incentives for investors to encourage setting up the ATS and RVSF.

So far, only Gujarat, Rajasthan, Uttarakhand, Bihar and Punjab have notified the ATS policy while Uttar Pradesh, Gujarat, Bihar, Assam, Uttarakhand, Rajasthan, Chandigarh Jammu and Kashmir have released the RVSF policy. Motor vehicle tax concessions have been announced only by Bihar, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and Assam of the 28 states and eight UTs.

Considering that fitness testing through ATS is scheduled to begin 1 April 2023 for heavy commercial vehicles and from 1 June 2024 for other commercial vehicles and private vehicles, the policy announced by Prime Minister on 13 August last year is headed for a huge delay as most states, including BJP ruled, are yet to start steps in any three

areas.

The Vehicle Scrappage Policy is a government-funded programme to scrap old and unfit vehicles and replace them with modern and new vehicles on Indian roads. The primary goal of the policy is to create an ecosystem for phasing out unfit and polluting vehicles to achieve a lower carbon footprint in the country.

Commercial vehicles and private vehicles older than 15 and 20 years, respectively, shall be scrapped if they fail the fitness test. If a vehicle fails the fitness test, it shall be defined as an ELV (End-of-Life Vehicle).

As per Vahan database, there are 1.3 crore unfit heavy, medium and light motor vehicles currently plying on Indian roads with 3.1 crore two and three wheelers falling in the same category.

The country requires 45 RVSFs in the next two years which would rise to a need for 70 RVSFs in the next five years to scrap these vehicles. To test these vehicles, there is a demand for up to 150 ATS in the next two years which would grow to 500 ATS in the next five years.

It is estimated that these would attract an investment of Rs 10,000 crores and create over 35,000 direct and indirect jobs in these five years.

The governing council, headed by the PM, has so far met seven times with the last meeting held on August 7

this year.