India may pull old vehicles off roads
Date: 10-Sep-01
Country: INDIA
"The ministry (of heavy industries and public enterprises), they have asked SIAM to work on a proposal on a National Policy on Vehicle Retirement," R. Seshasayee, the newly appointed president of the Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers (SIAM) told a news conference.
He said the government was being pushed to consider taking older vehicle off Indian roads following several judgements by India's Supreme Court to impose more stringent vehicle emission norms and improve air quality.
Seshasayee who is also managing director of India's second-largest commercial vehicle maker, Ashok Leyland Ltd , said a SIAM study in five Indian cities had shown that retiring vehicles older than 15 years were would reduce the pollution load by almost 60 percent in these cities.
An estimated 60 percent of India's commercial vehicle fleet was older than 10 years, he said.
But any such policy would need to be graduated so that the owners of trucks, buses, taxis and autos, did not face any hardships, he added.
The plan also must build in incentives for owners of older vehicles to switch to newer vehicles and should not have the effect of reducing tax revenues for governments, he said.
Seshasayee also said SIAM would also oppose further reductions in tariffs on automobiles and components unless the government improved the domestic manufacturing environment.
He listed India's inflexible labour laws, a multiplicity of taxes and poor infrastructure like roads and power as impeding the international competitiveness of Indian companies.
