Delhi govt. to issue public notice on diesel vehicles

The Delhi government will issue a public notice announcing that diesel vehicles older than 10 years will soon be de-registered by regional transport offices (RTOs), making their plying illegal in the Capital, in line with a National Green Tribunal (NGT) order on Monday.

The Transport Department had earlier taken the plea that the power to de-register vehicles running on the fuel was only vested in RTOs as per the Central Motor Vehicles Act.

Tough battle

The government’s battle against vehicles older than 10 years — constituting one-fourth of the total population of registered vehicles in Delhi — has been a protracted one since the NGT, on November 26, 2014, banned the plying of all diesel or petrol vehicles older than 15 years.

“The sheer volume of such vehicles plying on Delhi’s streets is immense and more than a challenge despite the combined efforts of both the Delhi Traffic Police and the Enforcement Wing of the Delhi government,” said a source.

“That, however, does not mean that enforcement of the NGT’s order has not taken place since it was issued in 2014. The issue will be considered by the departments concerned and its execution will begin in due course of time,” the source added.

According to records compiled by the Transport Department since the NGT’s first direction in 2014, the total number of vehicles older than 10 years plying in the Capital – registered both privately and commercially – is over 28 lakh. The number is close to a fourth of the total population of registered vehicles in Delhi, which is recorded at 88.27 lakh.

Privately-owned old cars

A source from the Transport department said that while an official exercise to classify the old vehicles as private and commercial was yet to be carried out, “a majority of these” were believed to be privately-owned and running on petrol.

This, the source said, was because current records put the total number of private vehicles registered till March 31, 2015 at 84.75 lakh in comparison to a relatively paltry 3.56 lakh commercial vehicles.

Off road

In response to a question related to the seeming harm that vehicles older than 15 years continued to wreak on Delhi’s ambient air quality, a senior government official attempted to seek solace behind the argument that “a considerable percentage” of vehicles older than 10 or 15 years “were more than likely” to have gone off road due to maintenance in addition to wear and tear issues.