Delhi Govt: vehicles which are 10-yr-old, to be deregistered by January 1,2022
Directions have been issued by NGT, related to restrictions on registration and use of diesel vehicles for more than 10 years, petrol vehicles for more than 15 years in the Delhi-NCR.
Government of Delhi has decided to de-register diesel vehicles in the city, which have completed or will be completing 10 years on 1st January, 2022. This decision is taken by Delhi govt. owing to National Green Tribunal (NGT).
What is National Green Tribunal (NGT)?
NGT is a specialized body established under the National Green Tribunal Act (2010) for effective and expeditious disposal of cases relating to environmental protection and conservation of forests and other natural resources.
The chairperson of NGT is Justice Adarsh Kumar Goel, a retired judge of Supreme Court.
After Australia and New Zealand, India is the third country to set up a specialized environmental tribunal and first developing country to set up this tribunal.
NGT is mandated to make disposal of applications or appeals finally within 6 months of filing of the same.
It is located in 5 different states of India, New Delhi is the headquarter of NGT and Bhopal, Pune, Kolkata and Chennai are the four regional branches.
Earlier this week, it was stated by the transport department that, “against de-registered vehicles a no objection certificate (NOC) will be issued so that those vehicles can be re-registered in other places. Although, for the diesel vehicles which have completed 15 years or more than that on the date of applying, the department will not be issuing NOC for these.”
Directions have been issued by NGT, related to restrictions on registration and use of diesel vehicles for more than 10 years, petrol vehicles for more than 15 years in the Delhi-NCR.
“Deregistration of the diesel vehicles which are more than 10 years old will be followed effectively and without fault,” the national green tribunal ordered, in July 2016.
It was stated in an order by the transport department that, “The de-registration of diesel vehicles for more than 15 years was to be taken up in the first instance. In compliance with NGT’s direction, the transport department deregistered a number of vehicles, however, in the meantime, a new set of diesel vehicles completing more than 10 years in Delhi is due for deregistration.”
According to the order, the transport department will de-register all diesel vehicles in Delhi which have completed or would be completing 10 years on January 1, 2022. No NOC will be issued for diesel vehicles that have completed 15 years or more on the date of applying for NOC.
“NOC for diesel vehicles up to 10 years and less than 15 years old petrol vehicles can be issued for any place in the country. NOC for diesel vehicles above 10 years and petrol vehicles above 15 years will be issued for other states subject to the condition that such NOC will not be issued for the places which are identified by the states as restricted areas in terms of the order of the NGT, which had directed the states to identify areas where the dispersion of the air is higher and vehicular density is least,” the order said.
“If in case, the vehicle owners want to ply their vehicles in Delhi, will be given an option to convert 10 years old diesel and 15 years old petrol vehicles into electric vehicles.” The department has given relief to many such vehicle owners whose diesel vehicles have turned 10 years old petrol vehicles have turned 15 years old.
The order stated that, “The retro fitment of such vehicles with impaneled electric kits will have to be got done through agencies approved by the transport department.” The empanelment process for electric kits is under process.
“In all other cases, the only recourse would be to scrap the vehicles and send those to authorized vendors for scrapping, which are more than 10 years old (diesel) and 15 years old (petrol),” the order stated.
The Transport and Environment minister of Delhi, Kailash Gahlot’s tweet-
Delhi only state to issue RC at vehicle dealer’s shop: Kailash Gahlot#TransportReformByAAP #KejriwalModel https://t.co/NwQjU6ShGG — Jagdish Mishra (@jagadisha1) December 16, 2021
Harm caused by NO2, released by automobiles in the city
Nitrogen dioxide (NO2) is a group of highly reactive gases, which gets in the air from the burning of the fuel. NO2 make emissions from trucks, cars and other vehicles. NO2 is very risky for children and elders, as people inhale breathe it goes into their body and destroys the respiratory system. Also, it develops asthma in people. To reduce pollution caused by NO2, de-registration of vehicles is a good step taken by Delhi government.
Dr Arun Sharma, Director, National Institute for Implementation Research for Non-Communicable Diseases, said: NO2 as a gas has not so serious effects on the health of the people but its secondary effects through an increase in PM2.5 concentrations and augmentation of Ozone formation are a matter of concern.
Electric vehicles as an alternative option
“Electrification is a necessary part of deep decarbonization because it is relatively easy to decarbonize the power sector,” said Lauri Myllyvirta, a senior analyst at Greenpeace’s air pollution unit. “But electrification only helps if the power sector moves rapidly towards zero emissions.”
“In order to significantly reduce harmful pollution by 2040, electrification will have to form part of a comprehensive package of policies to reduce power sector carbon emissions and improve energy efficiency,” the Paris-based body that advises nations on energy policy said.
There are some cons too of electric vehicles, one of the main things is that electricity is not at all cheap, to arrange recharge points everywhere will cost govt. a huge amount and moreover such cars have short driving speed and range.
Hence, the Government needs to prepare accordingly if they want to bring electric vehicles on road.
