JOIN USTasked to ban nearly 1.5 lakh diesel vehicles over 10 years old, the Arvind Kejriwal government is preparing a strong reply for the National Green Tribunal, citing hurdles in the task and the way forward for an air-friendly solution with minimum public inconvenience.
“We are going to file an affidavit in the tribunal stating what we can do to implement the order and what needs to be done by the central government and its agencies like the Delhi Development Authority,” said a Kejriwal aide.
Transport officials said some of the earlier directions of the tribunal like not to renew permits of vehicles older than 15 years are not implementable. “There is no provision under the Motor Vehicles Act, 1988 which authorises the rejection of re-registration of a vehicle on the basis of its age,” said an official, hinting that by citing this the Kejriwal government may put the ball in the central government’s court and seek an amendment in law for serious improvement in the city’s air quality.
A meeting attended by senior Kejriwal cabinet ministers and environment group Centre for Science and Environment’s (CSE) chief Sunita Narain in the secretariat on Wednesday also chalked out the details to be shared with the tribunal.
The CSE has maintained that a well-maintained diesel or petrol vehicle can limit the release of particulate matter of 2.5 micrometers size (PM 2.5) that are associated with cancers and respiratory problems. Diesel vehicles have a tendency to spew five times more PM 2.5 than petrol vehicles.
“An impression is being created that the entire task of cleaning Delhi’s air is the Kejriwal government’s responsibility. This is not the case. The central government and the neighbouring states also have to play their role,” said a Delhi government functionary.
“This is why, on our insistence, Union Environment and Forests Minister Prakash Javadekar has convened a meeting of ministers and officials of towns in the National Capital Region (NCR) on Monday,” he said.
Manpower shortage
Meanwhile the traffic police and the transport department officials have cited manpower shortages in implementing the tribunal’s order. Checking entry of other states’ diesel vehicles older than a decade from entering Delhi is another big challenge.
“There is not enough space to park impounded vehicle and checks on the 23 entry points into the city are going to cause jams and chaos,” said a traffic official, citing shortage of adequate data to narrow down on old diesel vehicles still plying in the city. Transport department figures show that there are about six lakh registered diesel vehicles in the city. The number of private diesel vehicles older than 10 years is 1,18,773 lakh and commercial vehicles is 34,659.
“We do not know how many of these have been scrapped, sold or transferred after registration,” said a transport department official. Traffic police who rely on registration number series to identify old vehicles could manage to impound only 1,100 15-year-old diesel vehicles which were banned by the tribunal in November last year.
Transport Minister Gopal Rai said the tribunal’s order for ban on 10-year-old diesel vehicles will be implemented with the help of the Public Works Department so that facilities could be built for allowing old diesel vehicles to turn back from Delhi border itself.
“We will find a solution which is good for the environment and cause minimum public inconvenience,” said Rai. The next hearing in the tribunal is on Friday. On that day, the transport department has to submit a list of all petrol vehicles older than 15 years along with number of diesel vehicles which are older than a decade.