Over 11,000 vehicles scrapped till March 31 this year

New Delhi: A total of 11,025 vehicles (7,750 private and 3,275 government vehicles) have been scrapped till March 31 this year by the registered vehicle scrapping facilities, Parliament was informed on Wednesday.

In a written reply to the Rajya Sabha, Road Transport and Highways Minister Nitin Gadkari further said 24 states/UTs have reported 2,56,935 government-owned vehicles older than 15 years.

The central government has provided incentives to state governments for implementation of the Vehicle Scrapping Policy, he added.

"The scheme for special assistance to states for capital investment has been extended for the financial year 2023-24 by the government and the incentive amount to the states has been increased to Rs 3,000 crore, to incentivise scrapping of state government vehicles, which are older than 15 years, waiver of liabilities on old vehicles, providing tax concessions to individuals for scrapping of old vehicles and setting up of automated vehicle testing facilities," he said.

Replying to a separate question, Gadkari said the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) has envisaged a cashless treatment facility on all four arms of the Golden Quadrilateral stretch -- Delhi-Mumbai, Mumbai-Chennai, Chennai-Kolkata and Kolkata-Delhi to provide Hospitalisation Insurance cover to the immediate road accident victims, including drivers, passengers, pedestrians/cyclist.

The proposed scheme is to take care of the immediate needs of the hospitalisation of the victims for the first 48 hours from the time of hospitalisation or provide necessary treatment up to a cost of Rs 30,000, whichever occurs earlier.

"For this scheme, NHAI has invited bids and technical bids of the tender are under evaluation," Gadkari said.

The ambulance projects were sanctioned for the entire country, and state-wise separate funds were not allocated, the minister added.

"In this regard, NHAI has sanctioned funds of Rs 395.89 crore in the last 5 years for the deployment of ambulances through centralised agencies," he said.