Govt mulling on policy of scraping old vehicles in next 5 years

New Delhi:Union Minister for Road Transport and Highways Nitin Gadkari in the Lok Sabha on Thursday said his government will make a provision to purchase new vehicles by eliminating old vehicles and work towards making the country a global hub of vehicle manufacturing in the next five years.

Making a statement on the "Vehicles Scrapping Policy" in the House, Mr Gadkari said the government was also working to reduce dependence on petrol, diesel imports and promote electronic vehicles.The policy provides for fitness test after 20 years for personal vehicles, while commercial vehicles would require it after the completion of 15 years.

He said it will reduce the expenditure on the operation of vehicles in the next two years by ten times and also help in controlling pollution.The Minister said the policy will provide benefit to scrapping centers, automobile industry, component industry and the common man.

He said the policy will also reduce pollution and create new employment opportunities.He said initially around one crore vehicles could come under the scope of the "Vehicles Scrapping Policy".

The Minister said scrap material will be useful in the manufacturing of electric vehicles.''New vehicles will be lightweight and the maintenance cost will also be less. All the interests of stakeholders will be kept safe," he further said.(UNI)