The Delhi Police are acting tough with transporters who are using tampered engine and chassis numbers to get their trucks re-registered in Nagaland, and thereby circumvent the NGT’s recent order on diesel vehicles.
The National Green Tribunal (NGT), in a bid to control pollution in the Capital, had ordered that diesel vehicles older than 10 years not be allowed to ply on Delhi roads.
According to the police, many transporters in the city are turning to Nagaland-based touts to find a way around the order. “These touts charge Rs. 70,000 per truck to arrange for these vehicles to be re-registered in Nagaland,” said Ravindra Yadav, Joint CP (Traffic).
In fact, the transporters do not even need to go to Nagaland or send their vehicles there. All they have to do is rub off the old chassis and engine numbers and punch in fake numbers.
After this, the transporters send all relevant documents of the vehicle to the touts. Claiming that these trucks are up-graded models, the touts use the new chassis and engine numbers to provide a new number plate with a Nagaland registration number.
The Joint CP added that the police have information about several such trucks currently plying in Delhi.
So far, the crackdown by the Crime Branch has led to the arrest of one transporter and seizure of his two trucks.
The documents for the two trucks, which were manufactured in 2004 and 2005, showed them to be 2008 and 2009 models after their re-registration.
The accused, Sanjay Kumar, is the owner of Delhi Karnataka Road Lines, a transport company based in North-West Delhi’s Sanjay Gandhi Transport Nagar. He allegedly told the police that he contacted a tout in Nagaland as he feared heavy losses because of the NGT order.
