Ahmedabad: The state transport department has sanctioned three registered vehicle scrapping facilities (RVSFs) and automated testing units for the ‘end-of-life’ vehicles.
Two facilities will be set up in Kheda and one in Bhavnagar. Estimated to cost around Rs 17 crore per facility, each will come up on a one-acre land.
The vehicle scrapping policy will be implemented in the state in two phases – the first, to begin on April 1, 2023, will be for commercial vehicles, and the second, to begin on June 1, 2024, will include private vehicles.
Vehicles more than 15 years old will have to be mandatorily tested at the automated testing units. If it passes the fitness and emission tests, the vehicle can be re-registered, but if certified as ‘end of life’, the vehicle will have to be scrapped.
Officials said that the shortcomings in the vehicle would be specified after the test and if the person wants to reuse it, he can get the repairs done and get it tested again. If certified as an ‘end of life’ vehicle, the owner will be given one more chance to go in for an appeal at the RTO where the vehicle is registered.
The officials said each of the RVSFs will be linked with the Vahan portal and hence in case of de-registration, the documents will be uploaded so that the concerned RTO can cancel the registration.
Over 38% of the vehicles plying on Gujarat’s roads and 33% in Ahmedabad are at least 15 years old.
All these vehicles will have to undergo the automated fitness test (AFT).
An official of the state transport department said, “As on March 31, 2022, the department estimates that of the three crore registered vehicles in the state, 1.2 crore will complete 15 years in 2023. These will include nearly 17 lakh vehicles of the more than 50 lakh registered in the city.” The official said that around 9% of these are commercial vehicles, including city and state transport buses.
After 2024, private vehicles will have to be inspected every five years after they complete 15 years, while transport vehicles (after 2023), will have to be certified every year, the transport department officials clarified.
The official said, “At present, any showroom with a service station can certify a commercial vehicle as fit for use even if that is not the case, a practice which will be stopped.”
Owners will be required to make the payment online and provide a photo identity proof. In case of inheritance of the vehicle in the event of death, a death certificate and other legal documents will have to be furnished before the vehicle is sent for scrappage.