NEW DELHI: Within a month of the launch of the Parivartan scheme, nearly 1,500 truck or bus owners in the Delhi-NCR have registered to seek benefits being offered by the government to replace their old, high-emissioncommercial vehicles.
Buoyed by the response, the ministry of road transport and highways (MoRTH) is targeting 25,000 registrations by mid-October under the scheme. Parivartan (Programme for Accelerated Renewal and Incentivisation of Vehicle Assets for Reducing Transport Air Pollution and Network Emissions) aims at accelerating the replacement of Bharat Stage (BS) IV and earlier standard trucks and buses in the Delhi-NCR with cleaner BS-VI or electric vehicles. It is designed to cut vehicular pollution and modernise fleets across districts in Delhi, Haryana, Rajasthan, and Uttar Pradesh.
MoRTH secretary, V Umashankar, on Friday said that the impact of the scheme would be seen in October, when fine particulate matter (PM 2.5 and PM 10) levels start increasing significantly.
“This is the first step towards a change to mitigate pollution going on for years. It is a complicated scheme, as multiple government agencies and vehicle manufacturers are involved. A single portal was launched so that beneficiaries don’t run from pillar to post. We are ready to scale up the scheme to the next level,” said Umashankar.
Response to the scheme in UP and Rajasthan has not been low compared to Delhi and Haryana, which have seen maximum enrolment for the scheme with 850 and 450 vehicles, respectively.
Around 2,31,840 vehicles, including two lakh trucks and 31,840 buses in 24 districts in Delhi-NCR, are eligible under the scheme. According to the ministry, old trucks and buses make up only 3% of the total fleet that generate a disproportionate 36% of total vehicular pollution in the region.
The secretary also said that 35 old vehicles had been scrapped and an additional 50 units had been sold with the benefits of the scheme. Four new replacement vehicles have also been registered.
The scheme has a total financial outlay of `9,585 crore, including `5,041 crore as central government support. The
transport ministry is implementing the scheme, while funding will be routed through the National Capital Region Planning Board (NCRPB) under the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs (MoHUA).
The scheme offers a strong package of financial incentives to make vehicle replacement financially viable. The beneficiary gets 100% concession on motor vehicle tax, a total
waiver on registration fees, a 5% interest subsidy on vehicle loans and up to an 8% discount offered by the participating original equipment manufacturers (OEMs).
The states of Rajasthan, Haryana, UP and NCT of Delhi issued notifications granting a motor vehicle tax concession for ten years and a registration fee waiver on the new vehicle purchased under the scheme.
The beneficiary is also entitled to get monthly fuel vouchers for BS-VI diesel and CNG vehicles of `1,200-`4,800 depending on the category of the vehicles. An electric vehicle buyer is eligible for a one-time financial incentive of `64,000-`264,000.
Parivartan plan designed to cut pollution across NCR
Parivartan (Programme for Accelerated Renewal and Incentivisation of Vehicle Assets for Reducing Transport Air Pollution and Network Emissions) aims at accelerating the replacement of Bharat Stage (BS) IV and earlier standard trucks and buses in the Delhi-NCR with cleaner BS-VI or electric vehicles. It is designed to cut vehicular pollution and modernise fleets across districts in Delhi, Haryana, Rajasthan, and UP.
