Here in Mayapuri area, in the filthy, run-down sheds, old, discarded, and accidental vehicles are either stripped to their bones and sold as scrap or their innards or working parts are salvaged and sold in the resale market.
Believe it or not, India does not have a single automated shredding facility in the country. As for a scrappage policy, despite the society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers (SIAM) desperately wanting the government to introduce one, there is none in place.
So who are these people at Mayapuri and what do they do for a living? People working here claim that it is Asia’s largest scrap yard for old vehicles and other metal and plastic products. ‘There are close to 1500 to 1600 spare parts dealers here who have thousands of employees and hundreds of thousands of daily wage laborers here,” Says Narinder Singh Chawla, Owner of ABCD, An Auto, Bike and Car Dealer.
Most of the Shopkeepers refrain from Calling themselves Scrap dealers,rather they want to be Known as auto spare parts dealer. Scrap dealing in general is regarded as a menial job and hence nobody in Mayapuri wants to be known by that term. Man of the dealers have amassed considerable wealth trading in scrap and auto parts.
“I have an experience of 40 years in this industry which has been running here in this place for the past 70 years. For 30 Years it was being run at Mota Khan and for 40 Years it has been here in Mayapuri. The Future of this business is quite uncertain. There ara multinationals coming in to do this very same work which we are doing. It is not clear s to what will happen to all of us who have been toiling here. he government has not made any clear policy for us,” says a worried Chawla.
India today has more than 7 lakh cars and over 4 lakh trucks and buses which have reached end-of-life stage. This means that the Indian market has a huge potential for auto-shredding. Recently, Union Steel Minister Chaudhary Birender Singh had noted that by 2025, around 28 lakh cars and 12 lakh trucks and buses will reach their end-of-life stage.
Last year, Mahindra Intertrade Ltd., a part of the Mahindra Partners Division of Mahindra Group, and MSTC Ltd. (a Government of India enterprise) had signed a formal joint venture agreement to set-up India’s first-of-its-kind greenfield auto shredding and recycling capability. This auto shredding facility is likely to come up sometime in 2018. This first-of-its-kind in India auto shredding facility will establish an Integrated Automotive Recycling capability for end of life vehicles – from collection, compaction, transportation, depollution, dismantling, shredding, recycling, and disposal.
India imports around 6 million tonnes of scrap steel every year and is the second largest importer of scrap after Turkey. By 2025, the Minister had informed that India will be able to generate 7.5 million tonnes of scrap every year. But with big multinationals announcing their plans to get into auto shredding, the scrap dealers of Mayapuri are a worried lot.
“We have abided by the Modi government’s ‘Swacch Bharat Abhiyan’. There are many cars which are lying abandoned in the streets of Delhi. We bring them here and dispose them as scrap. We are creating jobs and employment opportunities for the people. What is to happen to these people in the coming times is what troubles me,” says Chawla.
Chawla claims that he has information that the Tata Group is exploring setting up an auto shredding facility. He says that Tata officials often visit Mayapuri to find out how vehicles are being scrapped here. He is also aware of Mahindra’s plans to set up an auto shredding plant.
“If multinationals and corporate companies come into this business then what will happen to us. The government has not made any policy for us. We have been working in this field for 70 years. I am worried about our future,” he says.
A walk through the labyrinths of Mayapuri will shock an outsider by the manner in which the old vehicles are dismantled and stripped. A four-wheeled vehicle can be stripped of its innards in a matter of 25 minutes. The good parts are put aside for resale. They can include anything from a distributor coil, an engine part or even a laminated window glass or windshield. Whatever can be reused definitely has immense resale value.
Buyers for good auto parts come from not only all over the country but even from abroad. Any good automobile part has a resale value. For example, Chawla explained, a motorcycle handle in good condition can be fitted on to an e-rickshaw. Scooter tyres can be used as tyres for an ice-cream cart. Aluminium, copper and steel scrap are sold to scrap dealers at the prevailing rates. But all the frenetic activity at Mayapuri has left the entire area in a total mess, something that could make a body like the National Green Tribunal breathe fire!
Chawla points out that the Delhi Development Authority had allotted space for all the shops to be set up in Mayapuri. “The work we are doing here is valid because of the allotment from DDA and this is automatically a license for us to carry out this scrapping work here in Mayapuri. DDA gave us these allotments to set up shops to scrap old vehicles. If the government wants to shift us from here we request them to give us space where we can crush these vehicles. We request the government not to sideline us but create a policy for us as well which will benefit our generations to come and ensure the safety of their future,” pleads Chawla.
Now it is for the Government to take up the cause of people like Chawla. The government, if it wants, can retrain the people working here, set new standards for scrapping old and discarded vehicles, ensure that the hundreds of thousands of people working here continue to remain employed and most important, make sure that the environment is kept safe and clean. The other option for the government is to throw the baby out with the bathwater!
