Nitin Gadkari: Vehicle scrap policy to see another round of consultations

Nitin Gadkari

The proposed policy for scrapping 20-year old commercial vehicles will go for another round of consultations with stakeholders as per the PMO directions, Union Minister Nitin Gadkari said today.

The proposal aims to pave the way for mandatory scrapping of such vehicles from April 1, 2020. "PMO has asked us for another round of consultation with stakeholders. Accordingly, we will be doing consultations with stakeholders, industry and consumers," Road Transport Minister Gadkari told PTI on the sidelines of an event today.

He said that after "taking everyone's views" it will be sent back to the PMO for approval, he said. Once the policy is approved, he said, India could emerge as a hub for automobile manufacturing as key raw material available from scrapping like steel, aluminium and plastic are bound to be recycled, bringing down automobile prices by "20 to 30 per cent." India is already a leading place for automobile industry with a turnover of Rs 4.5 lakh crore, he said.

"I think there is a huge potential." In May 2016, the government had floated a draft Voluntary Vehicle Fleet Modernisation Programme (V-VMP) that proposed to take 28 million decade-old vehicles off the road. A committee of secretaries (Cos) recommended to the ministry redesigning of the scheme for greater participation of states with partial support from the Centre.

The CoS suggested that the "scheme may dovetail a calibrated and phased regulatory approach for capping the life of vehicles together with stricter implementation of emission norms and accordingly a revised consultation paper got in principle nod at PMO."

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