Ghaziabad to enforce ban on old trucks

Officials of the Ghaziabad regional transport department have decided to implement the ban on trucks registered in or before 2005 entering Delhi.

Officials of the Ghaziabad regional transport department have decided to implement the ban on trucks registered in or before 2005 entering Delhi. The officials said that the trucks will not be allowed to enter Delhi and could take the four previously proposed alternative routes if they want to go to neighbouring states, bypassing Delhi.

Traffic police officials said that they will soon be holding meetings with transporters to apprise them of the situation.(Sakib Ali/HT Photo)

The decision came after Supreme Court’s directions on the same on December 16 and a subsequent meeting of officials of various states undertaken by the Environment Pollution (Prevention & Control) Committee on December 19.

“The transport department’s senior officials have decided to involve the transport commissioner to ensure compliance with the proposed routes. For the routes to be used, transporters in the entire state will have to be sensitised and informed about them. Truck drivers should know about the ban before they come close to Delhi. Otherwise, they would be stuck in the areas in our districts that are already clogged with transport vehicles,” said Mayank Jyoti, regional transport officer of the Ghaziabad region.

Recently, NP Singh, district magistrate of Gautam Budh Nagar, had raised objections over the proposed alternative routes as one of them passes through Noida’s Sector 37. Singh had shot a letter to the regional transport office asking for a change in the route that goes from the busy Labour Chowk in Sector 37.

The Labour Chowk is a transit point for workers of Noida who live in Khoda and other areas of Ghaziabad and Noida. The Noida administration is concerned that the city’s traffic management would be adversely affected if trucks begin to ply through this area.

On his part, Jyoti said, “The four alternative routes proposed have been sent to the transport department’s headquarters in Lucknow and will be subject to further amendments.”

Traffic police officials said that they will soon be holding meetings with transporters in Ghaziabad to apprise them about the court’s directions and to ensure smooth flow of commercial vehicles.

On December 16, the Supreme Court had said that commercial vehicles “bound for Delhi” can enter on payment of Environmental Compensation Charge (ECC), but those registered in 2005 or earlier shall not qualify for entry.

In order to comply with the court’s directions, the regional transport department has already banned further registration of private vehicles of 2000cc and above, from December 21 up to March 31, 2016.

The department has also decided to ban the registration of diesel vehicles and their subsequent fitness and renewals from January 1 onwards. This will also be applicable to autos and taxis that run on diesel. However, for buses the same steps will be taken from June 1, 2016.

“The idea behind the exercise is that vehicles should convert to clean fuels like compressed natural gas (CNG). This will help reduce pollution,” a transport department official said.