Ministry Of Road Transport And Highways Update: Vehicle Scrappage Policy Details Revealed, No Physical Toll Booths On Highways By 2022

Union Minister For Road Transport And Highways, Nitin Gadkari, has dropped a number of announcements which will help make travel and getting rid of your old car a lot easier. The first announcement is that physical toll booths will soon be history by as soon as next year. The other one is details regarding the long awaited vehicle scrappage policy.

The Ministry Of Road Transport And Highways had already initiated a system to reduce time at physical toll booths on national highways last month by having all lanes as FASTag lanes and making the system mandatory. Nitin Gadkari’s latest announcement, however, will pretty much eliminate the need for a physical toll booth by developing a GPS-based system.

A system is being developed to scan the car and track the route taken. The toll amount will depend on the route taken from one point to another. As for payments, it’ll be deducted from your bank account directly, essentially eliminating the need of a physical toll booth. Nitin Gadkari has targeted 2022 for this system to be implemented.

Coming over to the vehicle scrappage policy, it was earlier announced that any private vehicle more than 20 years old that has failed to get a renewal on its registration certificate will be illegal for the road. MoRTH has announced some incentives and benefits for those having to scrap their old car and get a new one.

The benefits start with the scrapping centre contributing upto 4-6 percent of the ex-showroom price of a new vehicle. The carmaker that you will purchase your next car from is advised to offer a discount of up to 5 percent on the ex-showroom price. For personal vehicles, state governments are advised to slash up to 25 percent of the road tax. A new vehicle may also be exempted from registration charges. Although that and the road tax rebates may depend on the state.

MoRTH have also released tentative dates for implementation of the vehicle scrappage policy, which consists of the following: 

• Rules for fitness tests and scrapping centres: October 1, 2021.

• Scrapping of government and PSU vehicles above 15 years of age: April 1, 2022.

• Mandatory fitness testing for heavy commercial vehicles: April 1, 2023.

• Mandatory fitness testing (phased manner for other categories): June 1, 2024.

Overall, these announcements mean there’s plenty to look forward to for the auto industry from this year onwards in both getting rid of unfit vehicles, as well as easing travelling hassle on highways.