Is Telangana ready to send old vehicles to scrap?

Hyderabad: It would be a difficult task for the transport department in Telangana to scrap the 15-year-old vehicles which are more than 1 crore, particularly the two-wheelers that are in large numbers in the State.

The Centre in the Union Budget had asked the State governments to bring a scrap policy to remove the old vehicles. However, the transport authorities said that it would be a daunting task for them to remove the old vehicles as there were more than a crore in the State. Though it is not an issue with the commercial vehicles as these vehicles come for fitness tests on regular intervals, the problem is with the individual vehicles, which hardly come to the RTA offices.

According to official sources, there are over 1.25 crore old vehicles in Telangana which are 15 years old. If the Centre's proposal is accepted, the vehicles over 15 years in case of commercial vehicles and 20 years in case of the non-commercial/ white plate vehicles would have to be sent to scrap. There are more than 13 lakh vehicles which are 20 years old and 14 lakh vehicles which are 15 years old (which fall under the category of commercial vehicles), said a senior official.

In the past, the State government had imposed green tax for the vehicles which crossed their age limit. However, the motorists, especially the two-wheelers operate the vehicle beyond the limit. Still vehicles like Chetak, Luna, Suzuki, RX100 and others are found on the roads.

Meanwhile, the Auto unions have urged the government to make people aware of the rules and convince them to shed their old vehicles. The Telangana Auto and Motor Welfare Union general secretary said that 100 per cent commercial vehicles should be scrapped. The vehicles belonging to municipal offices, RTCs, auto-rickshaws should be condemned once the age limit was reached because it was important in the interest of passengers. With regard to the individual vehicles, only those which emit pollution should be scrapped. Why the government is collecting green tax when its policy is to remove the polluting vehicles? he asked.