NAVIN JHA
VASCO: Some scrap yards in Sancoale, besides operating illegally, are also scrapping vehicles without following the norms laid down by the government.
By rule, one can only scrap a vehicle after obtaining a cancellation of vehicle registration certificate from the local RTO. Vasco Assistant Director of Transport Abhay Naik confirmed it, stating, “One needs to surrender their RC book to obtain our permission for scrapping of vehicles.”
However, a few scrap-yards operating in the Sancoale Industrial Estate accept vehicles without verifying whether the registration has been cancelled or not, and within few hours, the vehicles are dismantled. It was more surprising to note that the yard operators casually claim that they are ignorant of the law and would follow all rules henceforth.
“I usually purchase vehicles from other scrap-yards and dismantle them. I have been doing this since the last five years. The RTO had once told us that we should not purchase taxis that are given for scrapping. However, I had no clue that we needed to check whether the vehicle owner cancelled the RC book and only then scrap the vehicles. I thought that any vehicle which has crossed 15 years of life can be scrapped,” said Bassappa Nagavi, scrap dealer operating from plot number 15 (behind Golden marble) at Sancoale Industrial Estate.
Nagavi also claims that he scraps no less than five vehicles per month and he has been doing this for the last five years, while obtaining permission from the panchayat to run a recycling collection centre.
Over 15 scrap yards are operating in Sancoale without having valid permission from any authority.
While some accept household items to remove plastic and other parts of electronic gadgets, some deal with industrial scrap, paper, boxes, glass bottles, etc.
Herald visited most of these scrap yards and noticed one common aspect: vehicle scrapping is the most lucrative business for them.
The issue has been raised only because there have been numerous cases of vehicle thefts, which have not been solved by the police so far. Even the police do not rule out the possibility of scrap dealers scrapping stolen vehicles, but still no efforts have been made to ensure that illegal scrap yards, at least, follow norms while scrapping vehicles.
Herald raised the issue with Sancoale Sarpanch Ramakant Borkar, who agreed that the matter has become serious.
