Greater Noida, Feb 4 (IANS): The central government will soon consider a policy to phase out old vehicles from public roads, Minister of Road Transport and Highways Nitin Gadkari said on Thursday.

"A note on scrapping of old vehicles is being put up for the Cabinet's consideration by the end of the month," Gadkari said in his address at the inauguration of Auto Expo 2016 here.

On scrapping of old polluting vehicles, the minister had earlier proposed that owners could be given an incentive of up to Rs.30,000 for discarding small vehicles like cars.

A ministry source here told IANS that in view of the union budget coming up later this month, Gadkari has written to Finance Minister Arun Jaitley that the budget should offer an excise rebate for new cars bought in exchange of a 15-year old car.

The source said an "end of life" policy may be announced in the budget that may include a rebate of 50 percent in excise duty on new vehicles for buyers who surrender their old ones.

The road ministry has also requested that accelerated depreciation of up to 50 per cent may be given to auto industry on additional investment for bringing environment-friendly vehicles.

In this regard, Gadkari said that after consulting the concerned ministries, the government has taken the decision to make mandatory the Euro 6 fuel emission norms for vehicles from April 1, 2020.

He said the availability of the required fuel would not be a problem, as assured by the union petroleum minister.

"Invest in electric vehicles and on R&D (research and development) in battery technology," Gadkari told auto industry representatives at the gathering, exhorting them to contribute their efforts towards pollution control.