Vehicle Scrappage Policy: Centre seeks Odisha's suggestions on scrap units

Bhubaneswar: After proposing amendments to the Motor vehicle regulations to allow scrapping of vehicles older than 15 years, the Centre has now sought the consent of Odisha government for setting up of Authorised Vehicle Scrapping Facility (AVSP) in the State.

The Ministry of Road Transport and Highways has reportedly written letters to all states, including Odisha, inviting suggestions on the draft guidelines for carrying out the dismantling and scrapping operations.

The new draft guidelines also provide that during the purchase of new motor vehicles, the purchasers will be exempted from payment of fees for registration certificates and assignment of new registration mark if they produce the scrapping certificate of the previously owned vehicle of same category issued by the authorised scrapping centre.

Meanwhile, people expressed concerns about the new norms. "We will get hardly Rs 70,000 or Rs 1 lakh from the scrapping agency. And again, we have to invest around Rs 15 lakh for a vehicle. What will we do now? It will be difficult to own vehicles," said a resident of Balasore, Devbrat Mishra.

While the Centre has sought State’s reply by November 15, Odisha Transport department secretary, G Srinivasan said that a decision in this regard will be taken after a departmental meeting.

“The present draft guidelines are only about the establishment of scrapping centres. We will have a meeting and respond to the Centre after taking decisions,” said Srinivasan.