Haryana is scrapping 935 old petrol and diesel vehicles to combat air pollution. As a part of this initiative, the state’s traffic police have already seized 133 such vehicles by September this year to improve air quality.
Under the Scrap Policy 2023 imposed in Haryana, 10 year old diesel vehicles and 15 year old petrol vehicles have been banned. The vehicles seized so far include 226 diesel vehicles and 709 petrol vehicles.
A senior traffic police department official said the first aim of the policy is to create an ecosystem to phase out unfit and pollution-causing vehicles to achieve minimum carbon footprint. According to Transport Authority officials, the seized vehicles will be shifted to the scrapping center in Nuh district as such a facility has not yet been provided elsewhere.
A large number of vehicles have either been seized or their registrations canceled as part of the drive. Owners of such vehicles can avail exemptions and rebates in the form of motor vehicle tax or registration fees, including an incentive of up to 25 per cent discount on new vehicle registration. Haryana Government has already issued instructions to all the heads of departments in this regard. Haryana Chief Secretary Sanjeev Kaushal has issued instructions to scrap all government-owned vehicles registered in the state, which complete 15 years of age on April 1, 2023, under the vehicle scrapping facility.
Rebates and penalties on old vehicles:
Owners of old vehicles can avail up to 25% discount on new vehicle registration.
As per the policy, there is a provision to charge higher fitness charges for vehicles used beyond the stipulated period of 10 and 15 years.
At the time of fitness test, old vehicles may be fined along with environmental compensation at the rate of Re 1 per cc along with road risk charge at the rate of Re 1 per cc.
