The National Green Tribunal’s (NGT) decision to ban vehicles older than 15 years from plying in the Capital, which aims at reining in emission levels in the city, is expected to affect over two million vehicles, according to official estimates.
Various government departments, including transport and the police, began gathering preliminary information and statistics pertaining to the NGT’s judgment on Thursday, only to realise that it ‘will be very difficult to implement in letter and spirit’.
According to a cross-section of officials, enforcing the decision will require on-the-spot seizure of over 20 lakh vehicles which, in itself, has triggered questions about requisite manpower needed for their identification, facilities for their storage post-seizure and the Capital’s status as an unavoidable and daily transit point for a massive floating vehicular population.
“We have begun identifying vehicles to ascertain their age according to the year of their registration so that notices can be issued to their owners as a preliminary step towards the enforcement of the decision,” a source said.
Though precise figures were unavailable, an official pointed out that the Delhi Economic Survey had recorded the vehicular population of the Capital at around 31.64 lakh in 1999-2000. As of June 30 this year, the total number of vehicles registered in Delhi stood at around 83.92 lakh.
Considering that many vehicles registered till 1999 could already be off the road due to wear and tear, in addition to other technical issues, a conservative estimate put the number of vehicles that will need to be pulled out of service between 20 lakh and 25 lakh. A majority of these are expected to be privately-owned.
The projected enormity of the task of getting so many vehicles off the roads has brought the agencies concerned face-to-face with issues they expect to deal with both during as well as post enforcement.
According to sources, while the Transport Department does not have enough manpower to effectively enforce the decision on its own and will require substantial assistance from the police, the latter are worried about where to store these seized vehicles.
“We have no storage space for such an enormous number of vehicles post seizure; our pits and other facilities are cramped as it is,” said a police source. The Delhi Police had said as much in an affidavit filed in the Delhi High Court in April.
According to the said affidavit, which had been filed in the court of Justice J.R. Midha last month, the Delhi Police is in custody of 25,790 vehicles involved in various offences, of which 20,023 have been in custody for more than a year. Only 5,827 vehicles of these are roadworthy, whereas 19,970 are not. As many as 25,215 of these are unclaimed.
