The Union Ministry of Transport and Highways, on Tuesday, issued a notification saying that 15-year-old government and private vehicle in Madhya Pradesh will not be re-registered. According to media reports, the notification will be implemented from the month of April.

The notification stated that, a private vehicle which has completed 15 years will also need to get a fitness certificate like a commercial vehicle. Also, green tax will be imposed on these private vehicles.

The Transport Commissioner said that objections raised against the notification will be looked into and resolved.

The vehicle scrappage policy, introduced by Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman in the Union Budget 2021, is expected to pave a way for increasing demand for vehicles after removing the old and unfit vehicles. Additionally, it is expected to help reduce air pollution caused by older vehicles.

Earlier, the automobile industry welcomed the new proposal in the 2021-22 Union Budget to scrap old vehicles. Members of the automobile industry believe that MP’s commercial vehicle units would benefit from the announcement.

However, ministry officials are apprehensive about the implementation of the policy, citing a lack of supportive infrastructure- Currently, India has just seven automated fitness test centres and just two authorised scrappage centres.

Also, the process to deregister vehicles also needs to be simplified.

“Presently, deregistering vehicles is a nightmarish experience for most owners who want to sell or get their old vehicle scrapped. It deters many owners interested to discard their old vehicles,” the official added.

In 2018, the ministry had proposed to make vehicle scrapping mandatory from 2020 onwards. However, it was kept on hold after the PMO did not agree to it.

India has approximately 7,00,000 trucks, buses and taxis manufactured before 31 December 2000 that contribute 15-20% of vehicular pollution.