Note on vehicle scrapping policy with CoS: Govt

A concept note on vehicle scrapping policy has been sent to the Committee of Secretaries (CoS) for consideration and approval, government said today.
In the first phase, the policy aims at scrapping commercial vehicles which have completed 15 years.
"Ministry of Road Transport and Highways has proposed a concept note on Voluntary Vehicle Fleet Modernisation Programme (V-VMP) and it was circulated for inter-ministerial consultation," Minister of State for Road Transport and Highways Mansukh Lal Mandavia said in a written reply to the Rajya Sabha.
He said the note aims at creating an ecosystem for voluntary scrapping and replacement of old polluting vehicles.

"After the deliberation it was decided to prepare a CoS note. The note has already been submitted to CoS for consideration and approval," the minister said.
V-VMP policy proposes to push 28 million decade old vehicles off the roads.

Last week, Road Transport and Highways Minister Nitin Gadkari has said that the PMO is keen on the proposal as once it is implemented, pollution would be checked considerably as 65 per cent of the pollution is caused by heavy vehicles which have completed 15 years.
He has said a presentation has already been made before the Finance Minister Arun Jaitley.

The proposal is to provide relief of about Rs 5 lakh to people who purchase new commercial vehicle of about Rs 15 lakh, if they surrender their over 15-year old commercial vehicles.
Once the proposal is accepted, he said it is bound to result in Rs 10,000 crore boost in tax revenue as the automobile sector will benefit from it.
He said that the automobile sector is projected to grow by 22 per cent and it will be a "win-win situation" for all.
The automobile sector turnover will grow from Rs 4.5 lakh crore to Rs 20 lakh crore after policy implementation, the minister said.

The draft Voluntary Vehicle Fleet Modernisation Programme (V-VMP) policy has proposed to bring under its purview vehicles bought on or before March 31, 2005, numbering about 28 million.