West Bengal Transport department has asked private commercial vehicle owners, plying in the metropolis and Howrah, to scrap their vehicles, which crossed the 15-year age limit, only at Registered Vehicle Scrapping Facility (RVSF) centres.

According to an order of the Calcutta High Court in 2009, 15-year-old commercial vehicles are now allowed to ply in Kolkata and Howrah cities to prevent air pollution.

If a 15-year-old vehicle is scrapped properly, the owner will be able to run a new one with the same permit given by the state government.

"The vehicles which have already attained 15 years and plying in Calcutta Metropolitan Area or likely to attain (say within one year) may be scrapped only at a licensed RVSF within the state," Transport Secretary Saumitra Mohan said in a notification.

The authorities are facing problems in replacing vehicles, when stage carriages are scrapped by the registered owner without informing the registering authority or permit issuing authority, he said.

"If there is no RSVF within 25 km from the office of the registering authority, existing practices may continue and the scrapping should be done in presence of an official of the Motors Vehicle department, who is authorised by the registering authority for this purpose," Mohan said.

The department also suggested realising tax, fees, and penalties for vehicles nearing the 15-year age limit, calculating from the date of registration.

A spokesperson of the Joint Council of Bus Syndicate said the organisation has already requested the government to give a two-year window for buses to scrap, as the transport sector has reached "comatose" situation in the last four years - particularly due to Covid and lockdown.

"A few owners are able to replace their buses and 90 per cent of the buses will vanish from road gradually from this August in a year's time. Aggravating the crisis, the government is making it difficult for the stage carriage owners to get their vehicles scrapped only at a few authorised RVSF centres. The number of buses awaiting scrapping will pile up and the few owners, willing to replace their vehicles, will face difficulties," the bus owners union spokesperson said.

Presently 30,000 private buses and minibuses ply in the Kolkata Metropolitan Area - consisting of Kolkata and its neighbourhood, and Howrah and surrounding parts.

The spokesperson said less than five per cent of the 15-year old buses have either been replaced or in the process of being replaced by BS 6 compliant vehicles.

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