Soon, you will have 'incentive' to replace those 15-year-old cars!

Will Borvili resident Raja Kadam have to part with his lovinglymaintained 1968 Ambassador model PICSNEHA KHARABEWill you give up your gasguzzling fumesbelching over 15yearold car if the government offered you incentives to buy a new one The central government is mulling introducing a vehicle fleet modernisation policy to scrap vehicles mdash both commercial and private mdash older than 15 years in an effort to reduce pollution and support the automobile industryUnion Road and Transport Minister Nitin Gadkari revealed this at a recent function in Pune The government is considering the carrot and stick approach It may offer incentives by way of a tax rebate in the purchase of new vehicles or discounts to induce owners to voluntarily surrender their vehicles Gadkari had said As per some reports the policy may offer tax exemptions of up to R30000 for small vehicles and up to R15 lakh for big ones like trucks And if that fails the policy will anyway spell it out that junking old vehicles would be mandatoryGadkari was not available for comments But officials attached to the transport department confirmed that such a policy is in the works According to them nittygritty like the quantum of incentives is still being worked outldquoThe issue has been discussed with the finance ministry and other departments concerned As of now commercial heavy and medium vehicles are on the list Later private cars too would be brought under the ambit of the policy The proposal has now been referred to the committee of secretaries for further actionrdquo said a transport department officialRetrofitted reusedAccording to some reports old vehicles in working condition can be retrofitted with lithiumion batteries and resold in the market Alternatively automotive scrap may be recycled for industrial use The retrofitted vehicles may be sold to fleet owners for ecofriendly taxisBut will owners give upFor car owners like Raja Kadam though no incentive can match the sentimental reasons for holding onto old vehicles Kadam a Borivli resident still has a 1968 make of the Ambassador despite having ldquothe latest Mercedes modelrdquo ldquoMy family has emotional ties with the Ambassador Itrsquos not just a car but also an integral part of our livesrdquo he explainedHe suggested that the policy be made mandatory only for commercial vehicles but ldquoflexiblerdquo for private car owners ldquoCommercial vehicles are the major contributor to air pollution The same is not the case with private cars Thatrsquos why there should be flexibility in the new rulesrdquo he saidOthers have tried tooAnant Sardeshmukh director general Maratha Chamber of Commerce Industries and Agriculture Pune who attended the function where Gadkari revealed his plans claimed that other countries have dabbled with a lsquocash for clunkersrsquo programme too ldquoThe latest models of cars offer better mileage and conform to the Euro IV emission normsrdquoMumbaibased traffic expert Ashok Datar too welcomed the plan He however suggested that instead of offering incentives to buy a new car the government should offer sops to set up industries to deal with vehicle scrap ldquoThere is no proper mechanism to deal with scrap from old vehicles The government should encourage entrepreneurs to set up industrial units where materials like rubber glass or other parts that can be recycled and reusedrdquoOn car owners attached to their vehicles for sentimental reasons he said ldquoThere are few people who use cars that are over five to seven years old Maintaining an old car is an expensive task Still if there are people who want to maintain their old vehicles the government should have separate rules and norms for themrdquoThe vehicle fleet modernisation policy is the brainchild of Gadkari himself and has reportedly received an encouraging response from all sectors Gadkari had played a crucial role in Mumbairsquos transformation mdash through construction of flyovers and bridges mdash during the Shiv SenaBJP rule from 199599