Scrapyards to come up at select locations. (Image for illustration purpose, only.)
The Ministry of Road Transport and Highways (MORTH) is been scouting for scrapyards for cremating older vehicles. Post the National Green Tribunal’s (NGT) decision on the scraping of diesel-fuelled vehicles that are older than 10 years, the government has been in a rush to find suitable locations for scraping. Since there are probably lakhs of 10+ years-old diesel vehicles in the country, it would be a clever idea to find a dedicated spot to dispose off old metal junk.
Older vehicles hinder sales of fresh stock. (Image for illustration purpose, only.)
Nitin Gadkari, Union Minister of Road Transport and Highways in Mumbai said, “We are trying to create a zone, where the scrapping and processing of vehicles can be done. These may come up at the ports on the outskirts of Chennai and in the west, preferably at Kandla.” Gadkari stated that the scouting process has just begun and the whole thing will take a while to get into effect. The auto industry has been quite chuffed about the NGT’s greenpeace move on scrapping older vehicles, since this move will directly affect the industry’s performance by pitching higher demand for new vehicles.
New cars sales to get a boost with this scrapping scheme.
According to some, the only reason that has been cited for not implementing the “Scrap your old car and earn incentives on new car” scheme, is accredited to the lack of proper infrastructure for vehicle scrappage. The Tribunal hoped to bring in to effect their scrapping policy within a fortnight, which according to Gadkari, isn’t right. He said, “We are with the decision of NGT in spirit, but this cannot be adhered to in two weeks. There are a lot of people who have bought vehicles on loan, they need to be given time, we have told the court that we will come out with the regulation within six months.” The transport ministry has thus appealed to the Supreme Court to extend this two week period.
Gadkari is also hoping to bring in front of the Parliament’s hearing session, a brand new Motor Vehicles Act which will enforce new motor vehicles norms. These new norms will have to be adhered to by all dealers and OEMs in India. “When we came into power the pace of road construction was 2 km per day, by the end of March, we had taken it up to 12 km per day; by May it will go up to 14 km per day and we want to take it to 30 km per day by next May,” said the Union Minister.