9 lakh govt vehicles, buses older than 15 yrs to be scrapped from Apr 1

More than nine lakh vehicles, owned by central and state governments, transport corporations and public sector undertakings, that are older than 15 years will go off the road from April 1 and new vehicles will replace them, Union minister Nitin Gadkari said on Monday.

Addressing an event organised by industry body FICCI, Gadkari said the government is taking many steps to facilitate the use of ethanol, methanol, bio-CNG, bio-LNG and electric vehicles.

"We have now approved the scrapping of more than nine lakh government vehicles, which are more than 15 years old, and polluting buses and cars will go off the road and new vehicles with alternative fuels will replace them.

"This will further reduce air pollution to a great extent," the road transport and highway minister said.

According to a recent notification by the road transport and highways ministry, from April 1, all vehicles owned by central and state governments, including buses owned by transport corporations and public sector undertakings, that are older than 15 years will be de-registered and scrapped.

The rule shall not apply to the special purpose vehicles (armoured and other specialised vehicles) used for operational purposes for the defence of the country and for the maintenance of law and order and internal security, the notification had said.