Noida traffic police to launch anti-pollution drive in November

There are nearly 180,000 end-of-life vehicles, including 150,000 petrol vehicles older than 15 years and 30,000 diesel vehicles older than 10 years in Gautam Budh Nagar district

Noida: The Noida traffic police will launch a drive in November to penalise vehicles causing pollution in the Gautam Budh Nagar district in compliance with the Graded Response Action Plan (GRAP), officers said on Friday, adding that a “road safety month” will be parallelly observed spreading awareness to curb road accidents.

A road safety month, meanwhile, will be observed in an effort to reduce road crashes, and raise awareness about traffic rules in November. (Sunil Ghosh/HT Photo)

According to the Noida transport department, there are approximately 180,000 end-of-life vehicles (ELVs), including 150,000 petrol vehicles older than 15 years and 30,000 diesel vehicles older than 10 years, in the Gautam Budh Nagar district.

To be sure, the ELVs are the ones that are no longer usable and considered waste.

“We will launch a drive against vehicles causing pollution and ELVs. A hefty fine will be imposed, and if required, these vehicles will be seized during the drive in compliance with the GRAP guidelines… We are also doing a general assessment to identify old vehicles dumped in societies. But we are not issuing challans, as we cannot penalise any vehicle until it plys on the road,” said Yamuna Prasad, deputy commissioner of police, Noida (traffic).

In 2015, the national green tribunal (NGT) implemented a ban on ELVs, specifying that diesel vehicles over 10 years old and petrol vehicles older than 15 years are prohibited to curb air pollution in the NCR.

A road safety month, meanwhile, will be observed in an effort to reduce road crashes, and raise awareness about traffic rules, he added.

To be sure, within the Graded Response Action Plan (GRAP) framework, the Commission for Air Quality Management (CAQM) has outlined that traffic police should deploy personnel for smooth traffic flow, especially at heavy traffic corridors and congestion-prone intersections.

Police have been asked to ensure strict compliance with pollution under control (PUC) norms and maintain zero tolerance for visible emissions.

The department is working closely with the Jewar and Noida-Delhi borders toll plazas to identify vehicles older than 10 or 15 years entering the district, said Udit Narayan Pandey, assistant regional transport officer (ARTO-enforcement).

“During a recent survey, it was found that 46,000 vehicles crossed the toll plazas in a day, of which 4 were violating norms. The team will be stationed at the borders to penalise such vehicles, and a proposal has been sent to issue an online challan against these vehicles after getting details from the toll plazas. The decision to penalise vehicles in coordination with toll plazas is awaited,” he added.

Officials, meanwhile, said that the traffic police will also conduct awareness sessions in schools, educating students on road safety, including the importance of wearing helmets, seat belts, and following traffic signals.

According to the Noida traffic police data, Noida has witnessed 331 deaths and 735 injuries in 853 accidents between January to September, 2024. Last year, 336 deaths and 610 injuries in 852 accidents were reported during the same period.