Government vehicles past 15 years to be scrapped from April: Transport minister Gadkari

NEW DELHI: Come April 2023, all vehicles owned by the central and state governments, including buses owned by transport corporations, that are older than 15 years will have to be scrapped. The road transport ministry has issued a draft notification proposing this fresh timeline amid lukewarm response from private vehicle owners.
While the scrapping of 15 year-plus vehicles will remain voluntary for personal and commercial vehicles, it has been made mandatory for government agencies, including public sector units and autonomous bodies. Transport minister Nitin Gadkari said on Friday that he has approved the proposed timeline for retiring old government vehicles. He has also been advocating for modernisation of bus fleets run by state government agencies.
In January 2021, PM Narendra Modi had suggested to the road transport ministry to implement the policy for scrapping government vehicles from April 2022 as it is a low hanging fruit considering it can be implemented quickly. However, several states were not on board to implement this scheme of retiring buses run by state transport corporations in view of their bad financial health, TOI has learnt.
Sources said the Centre held discussions recently with states for faster implementation of the policy and has asked all states to give details of their vehicles which have completed 15 years. They added that though the number of such vehicles may not be huge, government agencies can make a big beginning.