The draft notification issued by the Ministry of Road Transport & Highways, on March 15, 2021 will burden all types of the commercial vehicle as well the private motor vehicle owners. When the entire road transport industry is in serious crisis, the implementation of the policy will create havoc. AIRTWF has raised its objections and also suggested points which will help the industry as well as to contain pollution

THE All India Road Transport Workers’ Federation (AIRTWF) submitted its objections and suggestions on Draft Rules on Scrapping Policy, to the joint secretary (transport), ministry of road transport and highways, on April 4.

The road transport industry and the automobile industry in India have been in serious crisis even prior to Covid-19. Covid has added fuel to the existing crisis. The main reasons for the crisis in the industry are the defective policies of the union government like the abnormal enhancement of the excise duty on fuels, insurance premiums, toll taxes with liberty given to the toll operators to enhance rates every year and different taxes. All these burdens have thrown the industry into a crisis.

Petty owners having one/two commercial vehicles and they themselves working as driver cum owner constitute almost 80 per cent of the total commercial vehicles in the country. It is their only source of bread and butter. They are suffering a lot for their survival due to the issues mentioned above. Many of them are not in a position to pay the monthly installments of the loans which they availed from private finance companies for the purchase of vehicles. At this juncture, the introduction of the “scrap policy” will be an unbearable burden on them and will lead to their elimination from the field. This will be disastrous not only for the petty owners but for the nation as a whole. It will pave the way for the big corporates to occupy the road transport sector.

It is not out of place to mention that when the industry was in a good position, the vehicle owners were selling their vehicles even before the period of ten years if they felt the maintenance cost was going up or when the new technology came in. Now, when the cost of operations has gone up so high and the revenue is not matching with the expenditure, they are unable to dispose off the old vehicles to purchase new ones. At the same time, the purchasing capacity of the people of the country has come down drastically, which has led to the stagnation in the automobile industry.

The draft policy will be applicable to not only the commercial vehicles but also the private vehicles including two, three, four wheelers. It will be a heavy burden on the people as a whole.

Further, the state transport undertakings in the country have formulated their own vehicle scrap policies and were implementing them since some decades, due to which the pollution levels, accident and breakdown rates are very low in the STUs. But of late, they also are not in a position to implement them because of the above mentioned defective policies of the union government. If the union government is committed to safety and to contain pollution, the first step should be to strengthen and expand the STUs according to the needs of the travelling public.

Hence, the Government of India should pay immediate attention and take policy decisions to save the industry and to bring the large section of the petty owners out of the present crisis. Such positive decisions will not only help the petty operators but the people at large and the economy of the nation as a whole.

Further it is suggested that the period of 30 days for submission of objections and suggestions as specified in the draft is very meagre and not sufficient as it an important issue that affects the entire country. It needs extensive discussions/consultations with all the stakeholders at different levels throughout the country. It should be at least 180 days. The following are the suggestions placed by the AIRTWF.

1) The excise duty on fuel imposed during March and May 2020 should be withdrawn forthwith and the fuel prices should be brought down to January 2020 level.

2) Scrapping of the vehicle shall be voluntary but not compulsory.

3) If it is made compulsory, one third of the cost of the new vehicle shall be subsidised by the union government, another one third should be borne by the manufacturing company as discount and the rest of the one third can be borne by the vehicle owner for which the government should make arrangements for banks loan.

4) The period of 30 days specified in the draft for placing suggestions/objections should be extended to at least 180 days.

5) Extensive discussions/consultations should be organised throughout the country at different levels with all the stakeholders.

6) STUs shall be strengthened and expanded to meet the travel demand, duly financing them for augmentation and replacement of buses.