Crackdown on old polluting vehicles in Gurugram

Police started an extensive drive last Monday to impound old vehicles plying in violation of environmental norms leading to pollution

The traffic police, in a crackdown on polluting diesel vehicles from January to November 14 this year, impounded over 360 vehicles and penalised over 28,000 violators for parking on the wrong side of the road and leaving their ignition on.

Owners of such vehicles were directed to either replace such vehicles or sell them as scrap material. The Gurugram traffic police said they impounded 858 such vehicles from 2018 to November 14, 2021. (Representational image/PTI)

Police started an extensive drive last Monday to impound old vehicles plying in violation of environmental norms leading to pollution.

Orders issued by the National Green Tribunal in 2015, as well as the Supreme Court in 2018, state that diesel vehicles older than 10 years and petrol vehicles older than 15 years cannot ply in the National Capital Region (NCR) due to high levels of air pollution. In July 2016, the Haryana government also passed a similar order, banning such vehicles in Gurugram, Faridabad, Sonepat and Jhajjar districts.

Owners of such vehicles were directed to either replace such vehicles or sell them as scrap material. The Gurugram traffic police said they impounded 858 such vehicles from 2018 to November 14, 2021.

Gurugram on Sunday recorded an Air Quality Index reading of 287, in the “poor” category.

Sanjeev Balhara, assistant commissioner of police (traffic), said that they deployed over 25 teams on highways and internal roads to check diesel vehicles. “We are impounding polluting diesel vehicles every day and heavily penalising people parking vehicles on the wrong side of the roads with the ignition on,” he said.

Balhara said parked vehicles with the ignition on lead to a rise in pollution and they penalise over 200 commuters every day. “Our teams are deployed in two shifts and the highway is our prime concern as heavy vehicles add to pollution,” he said.

Balhara said that traffic policemen were directed to penalise people with ₹500 for a first-time offence and ₹1,500 for a second-time offence. “Impounded vehicles are parked in the nearest police station and later given away to be scrapped. A fine of ₹5,000 is also generated against the offender on the spot and owners are only returned the vehicles if they agree to scrap them,” he said.

Police said the air pollution levels rise in the city as farmers in northern states set their paddy fields afire to remove leftover stubble after harvest to prepare the soil for sowing the next crop. Such is the impact of stubble burning that air quality levels are often 30-35 times higher than the permissible limit across the NCR.

Vehicular pollution in the city further compounds problems during winter.

Authorities on Friday advised people to limit outdoor activities and told government and private offices to cut vehicle use by at least 30% as air quality in Delhi-NCR inched towards the emergency level amid a rise in emissions from farm fires and unfavourable meteorological conditions.

The measures to be followed in the ‘emergency’ situation include stopping the entry of trucks in Delhi, a ban on construction activities and introducing the odd-even car rationing scheme.