BS-III ban a windfall for Noida buyers: Over 700 two-wheelers sold in a day

The Supreme Court on Wednesday banned BS-III emission vehicles saying the health of millions was more important than commercial interests.

After the Supreme Court (SC) banned the sale and registration of Bharat Stage (BS)-III emission norm compliant vehicles from April 1, there was a surge in sale of two-wheelers in Noida as showrooms sold more than 700 motorcycles on Friday.

KK Gautam, senior assistant and registration in charge at RTO office, estimated that a total of 700 motorcycles have been sold in Noida on Friday. (Virendra Singh Gosain/HT PHOTO)

The apex court on Wednesday banned BS-III emission vehicles saying the health of millions was more important than commercial interests. The court had taken cognizance of the alarming rate of air pollution in Delhi-NCR and other parts of the country.

Following the stipulated deadline of April 1, major automobile companies in the country such as Hero, TVS and Bajaj rolled out heavy discounts for motorcycles in the last two days of March. There are a total of 8,20,000 vehicles with BS-III engines in India and a majority of them are lying unsold.

Due to heavy discount on motorcycles, residents of Noida and Greater Noida also used this opportunity to buy their desired vehicles at lesser rates.

On Friday morning, the Assistant Regional Transport Office (RTO) saw hundreds of people queuing up to get their registration done before the deadline.

“Though we have a motorcycle at home, I had always wanted to buy an extra one since I use it to go to my office for work. Now my son can also have a bike of his own for college. I have bought him a Bajaj Pulsar. I got a discount of Rs 10,000,” said Mahant Numberdar, a resident of Greater Noida.

“I wanted to buy a bike during this season as due to festivals such as the Hindu New Year and Gudi Padva, companies offer a lot of discount. This time, we got lucky because of the BS-III ban as we received a discount of over Rs 15,000,” said an elated Rakesh Bharadwaj of Noida Sector 55.

Though registration of vehicles takes place online at the dealer’s point, KK Gautam, senior assistant and registration in charge at RTO office, estimated that a total of 700 motorcycles have been sold in Noida on Friday.

“Basically, the deadline of March 31 is for taxation on the sale of motor vehicles. As soon as a vehicle’s payment is done, the tax is deducted there itself and we get notified. The rest of the registration process is carried out at the ARTO office. Until now, we believe that almost 700 bikes have been sold in just one day,” Gautam said.

Clearer figure is expected to emerge on Monday when the transport department will prepare a list of all newly registered BS-III vehicles.

“We have been asked to work till 1 am today (Friday) since this is the last day for registration. We are fully cooperating with the public,” Gautam said.