Old CVs to stay on road as PMO seeks review

The proposed vehicle scrapping policy aimed at junking 20-year-old commercial vehicles will be delayed as the Prime Minister's Office has returned it to the Road Transport Ministry seeking modification.

The PMO wanted the mandatory scrapping clause to be replaced, making it optional for vehicle owners. Besides, the PMO was also against giving GST relief to new vehicles replacing old ones, an official in the Ministry said here.

The Road Transport Ministry proposed the new policy, also called Voluntary Vehicle Modernisation Programme (VVMP), to phase out commercial vehicles that are more than 20 years old and non-compliant with Bharat Stage emission standards.

The proposal also says that CVs bought on or before January 1, 2000 will be banned from plying on roads from January 1, 2020. The policy also proposed to set up vehicle junking yards for recycling old vehicles.

The Ministry suggested that those who junk old vehicles should be given GST rebate when they purchase new vehicles. The Ministry favoured 8% GST against current 28% for those purchasing new commercial vehicles after junking old ones.

No GST rebate

The PMO was of the view that if the policy was made mandatory for all CVs, there may be an uproar from truckers as they would resist it vehemently. GST rebate was also opposed by PMO saying it would not serve the purpose.

Instead, it favoured raising the cap on maximum axle load, the PMO said. The PMO contended, increasing the load factor would encourage truck owners to purchase new vehicles by junking the old to take advantage of increased load capacity, said an official.

Recently, the Road Transport Ministry had raised the maximum axle load limit by 20 to 25 % gross for various categories of new CVs.