BHUBANESWAR: Odisha will soon have its first scrapping unit ready in the Khurda district as the state government gears up to discard old and unfit vehicles. To put a brake on air pollution, the Centre has proposed the state government to scrap over 18 lakh vehicles aged over 15 years and not having fitness certificates.
In the first phase, 642 government vehicles will go to the scrapping unit by Empreo Premium which has nearly completed all the formalities to start its registered vehicle scrapping facility (RVSF) in Khurda’s Pitapalli.
The new facility will also give a push to the government’s efforts to regularise the current informal and unorganised vehicle recycling industry in the state, said sources in the Commerce and Transport department.
Empreo Premium submitted an application on National Single Window System to start its vehicle scrapping facility. The applications were then sent to the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways and Odisha’s State Transport Authority.
“We applied for about 22 clearances from various government agencies like Odisha Fire and Emergency Service, Forest department, Industrial Infrastructure Development Corporation and others,” Empreo Premium’s plant head MD Azhar told this newspaper. The company has applied for the scrapping of all segments of vehicles, he said.
According to Odisha Motor Vehicles (Registration and Functions of Vehicle Scrapping Facility) Policy, 2022, notified on November 30 last year, the minimum land required for two/three wheeler scrapping yard should be one acre.
For light, medium and heavy motor vehicles, it should be of minimum two acre.“Empreo Premium completed the documentation process and obtained all required clearances. A license will be issued to it within a week to start the RVSF,” a senior official of Commerce and Transport department said.
A second applicant has approached Commerce and Transport department to set up an RVSF in Jajpur district. It has acquired land and is developing its facility. Once Empreo Premium’s plant is operational, vehicles registered in Odisha or in any other state, data of which is available on VAHAN portal, can be scrapped at the facility.
As per Odisha Motor Vehicles (Registration and Functions of Vehicle Scrapping Facility) Policy, RVSFs must have competent manpower and appropriate equipment to carry out de-pollution and dismantling activities in a safe and environmentally responsible manner.
After handing over of the vehicles by the owners to RVSF, the facility will issue a certificate of deposit as evidence of transfer of ownership of the vehicle. The certificate will be sufficient for the owner to avail incentives and benefits for the purchase of a new vehicle.
Currently, there is no RVSF in the state and possibly to get higher incentives, Odisha Fire and Emergency Service has auctioned some of its old/unfit vehicles on MSTC Limited’s portal. The process is pending with MSTC, said a senior officer of Odisha Fire and Emergency Service.