Scrapping vehicle too costly for truck owners, allow them to replace engines: DMK MP in RS

New Delhi, Dec 10 (PTI) DMK leader K R N Rajeshkumar on Wednesday urged the government to allow commercial truck owners to replace old engines instead of scrapping entire vehicle under the vehicle scrappage policy.

Raising the issue during Zero Hour in the Rajya Sabha, Rajeshkumar acknowledged that the government's goal of reducing pollution and improving road safety through the scrappage policy was "certainly an excellent work".

However, he said the mandatory scrapping of commercial vehicles, especially trucks older than 20 years, coupled with high fitness certificate fees, was "severely affecting the livelihood of countless truck owners".

"Many of these trucks, the very backbone of Indian goods transport, have structurally sound bodies. The main reason for pollution is usually the old engine," the DMK member said.

He argued that replacing old polluting engines with new BS6-compliant engines was a "practical and cost-effective" solution that would technologically renew vehicles.

"Why force scrapping of the entire serviceable truck body when only its engine needs to be changed?" Rajeshkumar questioned.

He said the policy placed a "massive economic burden" on small truck owners who could not afford to spend lakhs of rupees on new vehicles.

The MP said it also led to increased logistics costs due to reduced shipment capacity, ultimately causing inflation in the prices of essential goods.

Rajeshkumar urged Road Transport and Highways Minister Nitin Gadkari to re-examine the policy and grant exemptions to trucks beyond the 20-year mark if owners replaced old engines with new certified BS6 engines.

He also requested a reduction in fitness certificate fees, stating that engine replacement followed by mandatory fitness tests was a "practical way to ensure environmental sustainability without disabling our economic backbone". PTI LUX ANU ANU