Will soon seek Cabinet nod on vehicle scrapping policy: Gadkari

New Delhi: Road Transport and Highways Minister Nitin Gadkari on Tuesday said it will soon seek the Union Cabinet's nod for the proposed vehicle scrapping policy.

Gadkari said the ministry is trying to bring the scrapping policy of commercial vehicles and it has been presented to all the stakeholders.

If the central and state governments would work together on this, it will also help in reducing the pollution levels, he said.

"We are seriously studying its implementation issues and soon we will approach the union Cabinet on this and we will surely get the positive support from them," he said here in a video message.

The video message was shown during a session in the SIAM convention here.

The minister also said the government is taking steps to give a boost to the sector.

Automobile industry is a labour intensive sector, so the ministry is looking at ways to give it a boost besides promoting exports, Gadkari said.

"We are trying to reduce the logistics cost," he said, adding recently in the river Ganga, Maruti vehicles were transported from Varanasi to West Bengal and it has helped in reducing the transportation cost.

Gradually, he said, the government is trying to develop 111 rivers as transport routes besides using the 7500 km of coastline to reduce the logistics cost.

Further he said pollution is a major problem and to deal with this the government has decided to make Euro-VI norms mandatory from April 1, 2020.

"I am happy that the sector is helping us. There are some difficulties but with the help of the industry and the oil ministry, I am sure, we will implement that," he added.

He also said road safety is the biggest concern as 1.5 lakh people die in 5 lakh road accidents every year.

Seeking support from the industry, he said "we have decided to save about 50 percent of the people. I urge you all to support us in this mission".

In the next 10 years, he hoped that the auto industry will become number one.