CHENNAI: Tamil Nadu State transport department has requested an extension of three-years to scrap government buses and non-emergency vehicles of the health department, which are 15 years old and one year for other government vehicles. This move will result in over 3,300 vehicles, including 1,686 government buses being spared from condemnation after April 1.
The government also sought one-year time to set up automated testing tracks for issuing fitness certificates (FC) for heavy vehicles. The centre has also set a deadline of April 1 for implementing the scrapping policy which requires heavy vehicles that fail the FC test to be scrapped through registered vehicle scrapping facilities (RVSF).
“The implementation of a policy for establishing RVSF is currently under review by the government. The process of setting up such infrastructure involves huge investment from both private and government entities. Hence, it is practically not feasible to condemn government vehicles according to the proposed scrapping policy,” said a transport department official.
Similarly, seven transport undertakings, including MTC and six TNSTC corporations, have expressed difficulties in scrapping approximately 1,600 vehicles due to delays in procuring new vehicles on account of Covid-19 lockdown and pending litigations.
Sources indicate that ambulances engaged for 108 emergency services are being replaced every seven years. “There are currently 1,336 operational ambulances, all of which are under eight years,” said an official. The Tamil Nadu Motor Vehicles Maintenance department which operates under the transport department is responsible for maintaining 21,500 vehicles owned by almost 31 government departments, excluding the health, public works, and highways departments.
According to official estimates, there are currently 1,686 vehicles in use for over 15 years, including 1,029 police vehicles, 121 of which are two-wheelers. The remaining vehicles belong to various other departments.
As per a notification by the Union government, vehicles used for internal security have been exempted from the 15-year operation limit for scrapping. However, it remains unclear if this exemption applies to vehicles used by police departments and its agencies.