In the Lok Sabha, Union Minister Nitin Gadkari presented an overview of the upcoming vehicle scrappage scheme. According to Nitin Gadkari, the much-anticipated Scrappage Policy would not only help to improve the economy by removing older vehicles from the road and replacing them with newer ones, but it will also help to reduce emissions by removing polluting vehicles from the road.
objectives of the Vehicle Scrappage Policy
- To reduce the population of old and defective vehicles.
- To achieve a reduction in vehicular air pollutants to fulfill India's climate commitments.
- Improve road and vehicular safety
- Achieve better fuel efficiency.
- Formalize the currently informal vehicle scrapping industry.
- Boost the availability of low-cost raw materials for automotive, steel and electronics industries.
The central government announced changes to the motor vehicle regulations in July 2019, allowing vehicles older than 15 years to be scrapped. The scrappage program seeks to flush out old cars that are still on the road and phase them out, as these vehicles pollute the atmosphere.
Cars older than 20 years and commercial vehicles older than 15 years will have to be scrapped, according to Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman's announcement in Budget 2021. In addition, the government proposed that fitness certificates for vehicles older than 15 years be renewed every six months rather than the existing one year.
Automobile fitness centers will be built across the country to check the health of vehicles and issue scrapping certificates.