Age limit set – 15 years for Govt and 35 years for private vehicles
Shillong, May 1: Vehicles older than 15 years and 35 years – government and private respectively – shall soon be taken off the road in Meghalaya in a bid to reduce air pollution from vehicular emission in the state.
The state cabinet on Thursday decided to implement the Vehicle Scrappage Policy for “old and dilapidated cars, which are no longer road worthy”, said cabinet minister and government spokesperson Paul Lyngdoh after the cabinet meeting.
“We will now start addressing concerns related to air pollution caused by inefficient and old vehicles,” he said.
According to the minister, 13,000 vehicles in Meghalaya will be off the road as per this new policy. Of this, 5,000 are government vehicles and 8,000 are privately owned vehicles.
As per the latest count, Shillong has 2,76,262 vehicles followed by Tura and Jowai.
Besides, reducing pollution level through less emission, the Vehicle Scrappage Policy will also help reduce fuel import, which means less extraction and recycling of raw materials, the minister said.
“However, taking into account the overall economic condition of the people of the state, we will address the matter by first taking of government vehicles, which are 15 years and older,” he said.
“This will roughly mean that around 5,000 government vehicles will come under this scrappage policy and therefore, will be off the road,” he added.
For privately owned vehicles, as of now, the government has decided to relax the policy by bringing under it vehicles, which are 35 years or older.
There are around 8,000 such private vehicles in the state, he said.
