Bengal’s first crushing unit to destroy 15 old vehicles is coming up at Uluberia, Howrah. The unit is likely to be operational by the end of this year. It can destroy 24,000 light and medium vehicles and 12,000 heavy vehicles per year. The state government has decided to set up 10 units in the districts to start with. Later, such units will come up in every district.
The transport department has asked interested persons to get in touch with them. The interested firms should have a plot of land where the unit will be set up. The crushing units have heavy-duty cranes with which cars are destroyed. The windscreen and rear screen are removed before the body of the vehicles are crushed. The tyres are taken away and destroyed separately.
The National Green Tribunal and the Central Motor Vehicles Act have said that 15- year-old vehicles should be withdrawn from the roads and subsequently destroyed. The state is phasing out old vehicles from April 1 this year. The biggest old vehicle destroying unit is situated at Mullick Bazar when cars are destroyed following primitive methods. Mostly light medium vehicles and medium vehicles are destroyed.
Heavy duty hammers are used to crush the cars. But there is no provision to destroy heavy duty vehicles at Mullick Bazar. Snehashis Chakraborty, state transport minister, said modern methods will be used to destroy the vehicles that will be phased out.
He said however, no vintage car will be touched as they fall under special category and are taken out on special occasions. “The vintage cars are part of our history so no point phasing them out. They should be preserved with every care,” he maintained.