Grewal objects over proposed amendment in motor vehicle rules

Punjab BJP leader Harjit Singh Grewal today raised objection over the proposed amendment in the Central Motor Vehicle Rules which seeks to omit the words "Agricultural tractor is a non-transport vehicle".
In a letter to Union Minister for Road Transport and Highways Nitin Gadkari, he wrote the proposed amendment in the rules seeking to omit the words 'Agricultural tractor is a non-transport vehicle' is not justified as the tractor is not designed to be used to transport cargo or to carry passengers.
Requesting that the proposed amendment be dropped, Grewal also sought a personal hearing with the union minister along with a delegation of farmer leaders of Punjab.

The Punjab BJP vice president stressed that the agricultural tractor indeed is a non-transport vehicle by design, use and operation.
Grewal claimed if the amendment is carried out it will "attract additional taxes and would make it costlier and render it out of reach of ordinary farmers, whose farm income is abysmally low and who are under debt due to the unfriendly agricultural related policies of the government".
The sub-rule(b) of rule 2 of the Central Motor Vehicle Rules, 1989 reads: 'agricultural tractor' means any mechanically propelled 4-wheel vehicle designed to work with suitable implements for various field operations and/or trailers to transport agricultural materials. Agricultural tractor is a non-transport vehicle.

Asserting that "modern farming is dependent more on tractor than on anything else, and (it) is the primary need of an agricultural unit", Grewal said there certainly is no alternative of tractor in agricultural sector.