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Anoop Menon
Anoop is an avid consumer of automotive news and food. On most days, you can find him scouring the internet or immersed in a book. ... Read More
Earlier in November, New Delhi was reeling from a thick cover of smog, propelling the city into international news headlines for all the wrong reasons. The capital city’s struggle with smog and air pollution is long and well-documented, and now a new move by the National Green Tribunal (NGT) can be added to the list. The NGT has recently issued a new order that immediately requires Delhi NCR’s RTOs to start deregistering diesel vehicles which are 10 years or older from the streets of the city. The move follows a 2015 order by the tribunal to ban both diesel and petrol vehicles that are 15 years or older. This effectively increases the number of diesel vehicles that the NGT is targeting to those between 15 to 10 years of age.
The Delhi RTOs seem to have already started the deregistering process, which will cover private cars as well as buses and trucks, along with imported vehicles. This will likely lead to an outrage once again, like it did in 2015. But it may be less pronounced than before, given that the range of targeted vehicles is a lot less. This could be effective as well, given that in the past decade, diesel vehicle technology has come quite a long way in terms of greenhouse gas emission reductions. But only time will tell how effective the move will be? Also Read: Maruti Ritz To Make Way For Upcoming Maruti Suzuki Ignis; Likely To Be Discontinued
A related 2015 order banning diesel cars above 2,000cc was taken up to the Supreme Court, which ultimately lifted the ban in August 2016, instead ordering that manufacturers pay a levy for the pollution their vehicles cause. The ban on old vehicles has remained intact, possibly because manufacturers too do not see much potential in saving these cars and buses.
So the ban might remain, but there are other questions that need answering. One of them is that what’s going to happen to the deregistered vehicles? Union Minister Nitin Gadkari has proposed a Voluntary Vehicle Fleet Modernisation Programme (V-VMP) to scrap vehicles that are more than 15 years old. But given how slow such proposals move, the programme is not likely to come into effect until after a few years, if at all.
Until then, owners of these deregistered cars will likely either park them or dispose of them in whatever way they can. Without a clear, organised view of the scrapping process, one can only hope that the NGT’s new move will bear fruit and give some respite to the Delhiites breathing in the dangerous air hanging above their city. At present, the deregistration order seems like another new move by a government body to do some good, but without considering all other sides and possibilities.
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