The Economic Survey of Delhi 2022-23 tabled in the Assembly on Monday showed that the number of registered vehicles fell 35% after the ban on plying of ‘overaged’ automobiles in the city.
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However, a senior official from the Delhi Transport Department said the data does not reflect the number of vehicles on the Capital’s roads.
The de-registration of ‘overaged’ vehicles was taken up from January 1, 2022, in compliance with the National Green Tribunal’s direction.
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The movement of diesel and petrol vehicles older than 10 and 15 years, respectively, is banned in the city.
In the past decade, Delhi has seen a steady rise in the number of vehicles. However, there has been a fall in the number of registered vehicles to 79.18 lakh vehicles in 2022-23 from 122.53 lakh in 2021-2022.
In this financial year, cars and SUVs accounted for around 26% of the total registered vehicles, whereas two-wheelers comprise 66.50% of the total number.
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According to the Transport Department official, “The number of registered vehicles is not equivalent to the number of vehicles on the roads, as there are still a large number of de-registered vehicles plying in the city”.
The fall in the number of vehicles is a reflection of the ones that are there in the database, he added.
The owners of vehicles banned by the Delhi government had three options: get the cars scrapped; re-register them in another state, subject to the vehicle receiving a no objection certificate on the basis of satisfying certain criteria set by the NGT; or convert it into an electric vehicle.
The Delhi government de-registered 48,77,646 vehicles in 2021-22. “At present, seven lakh vehicle owners have taken NOCs and one lakh vehicles have been scrapped,” the official added.
“The vision behind this move was not to decongest the roads but to reduce the number of polluting vehicles,” the official added.