RTO asked to check status of 175 15-year old govt vehicles

Nagpur: Transport commissioner Vivek Bhimanwar has asked Nagpur city RTO to initiate the process of scrapping 175 government vehicles that have completed 15 years and are still in use.
“Nagpur city RTO has been asked to ensure all government offices plying 15-year-old vehicles should scrap them,” said a senior official citing a January 4 letter by Bhimanwar asking the office to submit an updated list by January 9.
This is part of the vehicle scrapping policy which is aimed at creating an eco-system for phasing out unfit and polluting vehicles and promoting recycling of vehicle scrap. The transport commissioner’s office in Mumbai has also a shared list with details of vehicles that have completed 15 years along with the government departments using outdated vehicles.
“In accordance with the directive, the list of government vehicles that are registered in our office and have completed 15 years is attached. By contacting the departments included in the list, whether the vehicles are in use or not, or if the said vehicles have been disposed of earlier, the vehicle wise report should be submitted by January 9,” it further stated.
Bhimanwar has directed the offices to appoint motor vehicle inspector and assistant motor vehicle inspector to contact the concerned department and seek status report of old vehicles.
As per the list, the maximum number of vehicles were owned by Nagpur Municipal Corporation (NMC) and city police. It was followed by forest, Airports Authority of India, health, Maharashtra state road transport corporation, revenue, judiciary and others.
The rural RTO too is preparing a comprehensive list of government offices owned vehicles that have completed 15-years lifespan. As per state office this office has only six vehicles which have completed 15-years-old.
Sources said that the ministry of road transport and highways has recently expressed anguish against Maharashtra government for its lackadaisical approach to implement vehicle scrapping policy.
MoRTH’s additional secretary Mahmood Ahmed stated that despite the notification issued by the ministry for the establishment of automated testing station and registered vehicle scrapping facility (RVSF), Maharashtra government is yet to take required actions to implement these notifications.
Mahmood also pointed out that RVSF applications of M/s Cero (Pune, Maharashtra) and M/s MTC Group (Mumbai and Pune) were submitted in May 2022 and the sites are also ready for operations. However, the government is yet to act on these applications too.