Crackdown on 5 million end-of-life vehicles in Delhi kicks off

An official said that the special enforcement drive has been undertaken in light of the G20-related meetings in the city

New Delhi Around 5 million vehicles which were deregistered in Delhi between January and October 2022 are on the radar of the state transport department, with enforcement teams impounding around 250 such vehicles over the past three days, officials aware of the development said on Thursday.

No vehicle which is 15 years old can operate on the roads of the national capital, according to orders issued by the National Green Tribunal (2015) and the Supreme Court (2018). For diesel vehicles, this time period is cut down to 10 years only. (HT Archive)

No vehicle which is 15 years old can operate on the roads of the national capital, according to orders issued by the National Green Tribunal (2015) and the Supreme Court (2018). For diesel vehicles, this time period is cut down to 10 years only. The government calls such vehicles “end-of-Iife” vehicles, and driving them in Delhi is illegal. The aim behind these rules is to cut down on the number of vehicles on the city’s roads with dated emission standards.

A transport enforcement official said that earlier this week, 80 teams were formed. These teams have been deployed in different parts of the city -- especially on roads which witness heavy traffic and at petrol pumps -- to check for deregistered vehicles plying against the rules, and to impound and send them for scrapping.

The official said that the special enforcement drive has been undertaken in light of the G20-related meetings in the city, starting from March till the summit meeting in September.

A second official said overage vehicles are identified by model, condition, and on the basis of their registration number. “Some of them turn out to be deregistered, and are then impounded,” the official said.

Transport commissioner Ashish Kundra said the drive against overage vehicles will be intensified over the next few days. “Overage vehicles make a huge contribution to air pollution. A drive against such vehicles is an important step towards combating air pollution. I urge all owners of overage vehicles to scrap their vehicles. We have six currently functional scrappers, the list of which is available on the website of the Delhi transport department. Even overage vehicles which are illegally parked in the streets will be impounded by the enforcement teams,” said Kundra.

From a legal standpoint, deregistration immobilises vehicles and ensures that they cannot be lawfully used. “Deregistered vehicles cannot be sold and the insurance of such vehicles cannot be purchased. Using such vehicles becomes illegal and they can be impounded,” said an official.

HT had in October last year reported that the transport department had deregistered 5,338,045 vehicles between January 2018 and October 2022, of which 4,698,391 were petrol-run, 415,362 had diesel engines, and 41,311 ran on CNG.

Vehicular emissions contribute around 9% of the PM10 load and around 20% of the PM2.5 load in Delhi, according to a 2016 study by Indian Institute of Technology, Kanpur.

Anumita Roychowdhury, executive director (research and advocacy) at Centre for Science and Environment, said, “It is necessary to replace overage and highly polluting vehicles with cleaner and zero-emission vehicles to reduce toxic exposure.”