Government to soon ban commercial vehicles older than 20 years
The central government will make the scrapping of all commercial vehicles older than 20 years mandatory from 2020, a meeting headed by PM Modi's principal secretary Nripendra Misra decided on Friday. On purchasing new commercial vehicles against scrapped ones before 2020, owners are likely to get a revised GST (12-18% instead of the current 28%) and a discount from the manufacturers. Here's more.
350,000 commercial vehicles to be scrapped before 2020
The road ministry has been asked to draft a proposal before the cabinet in three months. Once the cabinet approves the scheme, the government aims to scrap 350,000 vehicles before the 2020 deadline. According to the Central Pollution Control Board and Union Road Ministry's emission norms, India's 700,000 trucks/buses/taxis manufactured before December 31, 2000, are responsible for 15-20% of vehicular pollution.
Beijing removed 340,000 old vehicles from its roads in 2016
The steel ministry and NITI Aayog have been tasked to formulate a policy for setting up of new recycling/shredding centres. Though this, the government expects to curb pollution, improve road safety and also get recycled scrap. By awarding monetary incentives to owners for upgrading old commercial vehicles, Beijing successfully removed 340,000 vehicles older than 10 years from its roads in 2016.
NITI Aayog CEO Amitabh Kant also attended the meeting
Other than PMO's principal secretary, the meeting was also attended by NITI Aayog CEO Amitabh Kant, the departments of heavy enterprises and industrial policy/promotion, and secretaries of the ministries of finance, environment, highways, steel, and micro, small and medium enterprises.
