Draft policy won't solve problem of scrapping old vehicles:AAP

Mumbai, Jan 27: A senior Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) on Wednesday, Jan 27 said that the upcoming draft policy for scrapping old vehicles by the Union government would not solve the problem as parts of it are "not clear".

"The draft policy (on scrapping old vehicles) is silent about developing a scrap yard, possibly in each big city. It also remains silent on many issues that need to be clarified," AAP leader and social activist Ravi Srivastava said.

The policy should be clearly fixing a specific time-frame for a vehicle to be declared as scrap, which is not present in the draft policy.

It also does not say anything on what would be done to dismantle a scrap vehicle and who would bear the expenses of dismantling it, Srivastava added.

He pointed out that the reckless dumping of scrap cars is creating multiple problems such as environmental pollution, traffic jams, road accidents, health problems, etc.and this policy is making a mockery of the Prime Minister's Swachch Bharat campaign. About 1 crore scrap vehicles are lying in the country, wasting almost 25 crore sq ft of space, he added.

"In most of the cases, if the vehicle is more then 3-5 years old, then it is sold to second and third users, who use it as taxi for a few years. And after 15-20 years, most of its parts are sold to scrap dealers and the vehicle is dumped on the road," he said.

The government should learn from the Western countries, who have, over the years, devised innovative ways to curb scrap vehicles menace, Srivastava said.

He emphasised that the in foreign countries, every major city has a well-organized multi-level dumping/scrap yard for old vehicles, equipped with heavy duty pressing, crushing, dismantling machines. Our government must also adopt such techniques, then only we can hope the policy to bring some respite.

The country needs a strict law to curb the ever-increasing cars on its roads, he said.

PTI