Hyderabad: There are more than one crore 15-years-old vehicles in the state. The state’s Transport Department is finding it difficult to scrap them. The number of old two-wheelers is large. The Central Government had instructed the states to adopt a policy to scrap the old vehicles. This task, however, would not be easy for the Transport Department in view of its huge numbers.
There is no issue with commercial vehicles as they are brought for fitness tests from time to time. But the private vehicles hardly come to the RT offices for such tests. As per an official source, there are more than 1.25 crores 15-year-old vehicles in Telangana. In order to implement the Central Government’s directive, all the 15 years old commercial vehicles and 20 years old private vehicles must be scrapped.
According to a senior RTO officer, more than 13 lakh 20-year-old vehicles and 14 lakhs 15-year-old vehicles (in commercial category) had to be scrapped. In the past, the state government had levied a green tax on those vehicles which crossed its age limit. However, it is observed that the memoirists and especially the owners of two-wheelers use their vehicles even after its age limit. There are plenty of such vehicles like Luna, Chetak, Suzuki Rx100 and others.
Meanwhile, the Auto unions had told the government to run an awareness campaign and convince the people to give up using their old vehicles. Telangana Auto and Motor Welfare Union General Secretary suggested 100 % scrapping of commercial vehicles. “All the vehicles of Municipal offices, RTC buses and auto-rickshaws must be declared non-usable after its age limit as this would be in the public interest. In the case of private vehicles, only those vehicles must be scrapped which create pollution. Why does the government receive green tax while its policy is to ban the pollution creating vehicles,” said the Secretary.