In what is expected to be significant boost for the govt’s efforts to speed up scrappage of old vehicles, as many as 21 states and UTs have announced some major concessions for car buyers who choose to scrap their cars, ToI reported on April 29.
Under this offer, there will be a concession in motor vehicle price or road tax of up to 25% when a customer goes to buy a new personal vehicle after scrapping their old one. For commercial vehicles, the concession is 15%.
Bihar, MP, UP, Haryana, Karnataka, Maharashtra, Gujarat, Punjab and Kerala are among the states that have announced these concessions. It may be noted here that the Central govt has made it mandatory for states to promote scrapping of old and unfit vehicles.
Approximately, 70,000 old vehicles have been scrapped voluntarily so far. Many of these vehicles, though, were owned by central or state government agencies. Delhi is the sole state/Union Territory where diesel and petrol vehicles older than 10 and 15 years, respectively, are automatically deregistered and require to be scrapped.
17 states/Union Territories have announced a 15% road tax concession when registering commercial or transport vehicles after scrapping old ones, ToI’s report (by Dipak K Dash) said.
When it comes to private vehicles, 12 states are providing a 25% discount on road tax. Haryana offers a 10% discount or the lower of 50% of the scrap value, while Uttarakhand provides a 25% discount or INR 50,000, whichever is less. Karnataka is providing a fixed discount on road tax based on the price of the new private vehicle – for example, INR 50,000 for vehicles priced above INR 20 lakh. Puducherry is giving a 25% discount or INR 11,000, whichever is less.
According to Road transport ministry officials cited by ToI, after the Centre made it mandatory, as many as 37 registered scrapping centres or RVSFs have been operationalised. At present, in total, 52 such centres are functioning across 16 states and UTs.
As for fitness checks, there are currently 52 automated testing stations (ATS) that are operational for checking the fitness of vehicles across 11 states and UTs.
The central govt is now putting special focus on setting up more RVSFs and ATS across the country to facilitate easier access for more and more car users, the report said quoting a ministry official.
