New Delhi: The second largest agglomeration in India, the capital city will witness from today onwards seizure and scrapping of old diesel vehicles. Delhi's transport department has begun a drive to confiscate, deregister and scrap diesel vehicles that are plying for over 15 years, in an attempt to limit vehicular emissions before the winter approaches.
 
According to a Delhi transport functionary, the vehicles seized won’t be returned to the respective owners, as per the new ‘Delhi Scrapping of Vehicles Rules, 2018’.  

“The vehicles will be handed over to state-run Metal Scrap Trade Corporation Limited (MSTC Limited) for scrapping. Delhi Police is also being asked to impound such vehicles if found plying on roads. Besides, enforcement teams of municipal corporations and the transport department will also be imposing fines and impounding such vehicles,” stated a transport official who prefers to be unnamed. Delhi Government database estimates that almost 2,23,000 diesel vehicles have been deregistered since January 2016 in conformity with the National Green Tribunal (NGT) order that diesel vehicles of over 15 years of agedness should not operate in Delhi’s public space. Of the estimated, 1,11,579 were private and 111,740 commercial vehicles approximately. 

“Stubble burning in neighbouring states has begun and, as winters set in, pollution levels will worsen. Hence, we are starting a fresh drive of seizing diesel vehicles that are over 15 years and are parked in public spaces. For other vehicles, our enforcement teams have been directed to intensify checks on pollution under control (PUC) certificates and impound visibly polluting vehicles until Diwali,” stated Kailash Gahlot, also mentioning that the drive will start from south Delhi. 
 
According to the estimates in the government database, over 10 million vehicles have been registered in Delhi, out of which 370,000 are over a decade old. The city’s scrapping policy allows the owners to willingly give away their vehicles to selected dealers against a solid amount. The owners can also sell their vehicles to other states where or not the 15-year rule for diesel vehicles apply. 

The new rule mandates that licence should be issued to dealers who own scrap yards of over 1,000 sq yards in non-residential areas in Delhi-NCR and are certified by Delhi Pollution Control Committee (DPCC). “Authorised CCTV cameras will record the scrapping process of every vehicle. Authorities can see live status at the the control centre on a 24×7 basis,” the draft rules state. The authorised dealers must keep a computerised record of vehicles and is to be sent to the director of the transport department every month.