Industry stakeholders point to ambiguities in guidelines
The much-awaited vehicle scrapping policy could soon be a reality with the Ministry of Road Transport & Highways (MoRTH) unveiling for public circulation the draft guidelines for setting up, authorisation and operation of Authorised Vehicle Scrapping Facility (AVSF) in the country. These norms will be applicable to vehicles which are no longer validly registered under Section 41 of the Motor Vehicles Act, 1988 or where the owners are desirous of scrapping their vehicles, or the enforcement authorities have to scrap the vehicles impounded or seized by them, or in accordance with the directions of any court of law.
The guidelines want to ensure safe and regulated disposal of the vehicles for public interest, protection of the environment and promotion of a legally compliant vehicle dismantling and scrapping industry.
An AVSF will be an establishment which holds an “authorisation for vehicle scrapping” issued under the guidelines for carrying out dismantling and scrapping operations”.
Access to Vahan database
Industry stakeholders laud the access to the Vahan data base which means they can access vehicles only from legal owners. As per the guidelines, “If a motor vehicle is not having a valid registration then the authorised scrapper or its designated centre shall match the identity of the registered owner as per the Vahan data base with the person handing over the vehicle and receive the vehicle and issue a receipt through the digital platform linked to the Vahan database.” “This can separate the accidental vehicles,” said one auto scrap dealer.
The area of 8,000 sqm of dismantling area that has been stipulated for managing different various kinds of vehicles has found favour with the industry too.
Sections need a relook?
However, sources told SteelMint that there are certain sections which should be amended or revised to make them more favourable in terms of operations of the dismantling units. The draft guidelines, for instance, mention that each dismantling centre will be given permission for login id and password for access to the Vahan database. However, a source said, the reality is all vehicles are not registered on Vahan. “Many a times, it has happened that details of a particular vehicle are not available on Vahan. So, it is not clear what is to be done in such a scenario?” said the source.
No stacking
Secondly, MoRTH has asked dismantling centres to follow CPCB guidelines issued in January 2019 where one clause does not permit dismantling centres to stack vehicles, possibly because of concerns over spillage of fuel or oil from the vehicle to the ground. However, world over, countries allow dismantling centres to stack vehicles one over the other to fight space scarcity. It is the prime responsibility of the dismantling centres to take care of the spillage to ensure environmental and public safety and ascertain there should be no environmental damage during storage, dismantling and recycling of the vehicle. “The world over, dismantling centres or shredders, allow the vehicles to be stacked one over the other. These are scrap and we, who will do the dismantling, need to ensure whatever space is available is used economically,” said another source.
Many in the industry feel the solution lies in allowing stacking and that it should be the responsibility of the dismantling centre to ensure not a single piece of waste contaminates the ground, air or water. There should thus be water and effluent treatment units at the dismantling centres to ensure the safety, storage and dismantling of the vehicle. “Each company has its own way of dismantling vehicles and the dismantling centres cannot ask us to change the way we do it. But there should be adequate infrastructure at the dismantling centres to ensure our safety,” said the source.
The key reason behind such centres is the government’s intention to not allow conducting of vehicle scrapping in an unorganised way as done in the Mayapuri auto scrap market, said a source. In India, in the unorganised sector, there is generally little respect for the environment. For instance, a source said, “If glass breaks, it is often kept on the ground. Glass contains heavy metals which contaminate the soil. Then, there is often disregard for the various kinds of oils that seep into the soil – brake oil, engine oil, radiator oil etc.”
Thus these authorised vehicle scrappage centres should have facilities for collection of all such materials that should not go into the environment directly. Respect for the environment should be the prime point but the dismantling process should be kept open by the dismantling centres, said many.
A point under “Scraping Procedure”, mentions that the “authorised scrapper shall ensure that removal/recycle or disposal of hazardous parts of the scrapped vehicle is done as per guidelines issued by the CPCB.” However, the PCCB guidelines are extremely detailed and limit the dismantling centre by detailing their own standard operating procedures in terms of storage and dismantling which are very hard to digress from technically and from the operation standpoint. This point needs a relook said many.
Licensing authority
There is ambiguity under the “Right to Inspection” section. It has been mentioned that in order to ensure compliance of these guidelines, the authorised scrapper should record the transaction of vehicles and scrap generation and its responsible disposal to authorised recyclers and all the machinery, equipment and apparatus in the AVSF premises should be ready for inspection by the licensing authority or designated officer of the state/UT government. But since the guidelines are issued by MoRTH, there are queries as to who will be the licensing authority. It has not been mentioned who has been invested with the power to do the audit, or on what grounds the audit will be conducted, whether it will be from the CPCB or RTO side?
Ozone ambiguity
Lastly, under “Applicable Acts/Rules”, there is a reference to the Ozone Depleting Substances (Regulation & Control), 2000. Gadgets like air-conditioners etc are ozone depleting. Dismantlers can collect the ozone “through a container and an electrical equipment”. But they said it is not mentioned to whom they hand over the ozone collected unlike in the case of batteries and e-waste, where CPCB has clearly enunciated the authorised recyclers etc.
Comments and suggestions on the draft guidelines are to be furnished by November, 2019.
-By Madhumita Mookerji
Leave a Reply