Delhi Transport Department begins de-registering 15-year-old diesel vehicles

The Delhi Transport Department has started mandatory de-registration of over 15-year-old diesel vehicles including goods carriers and personal vehicles from the past 15 days.

This drive follows the latest National Green Tribunal (NGT) order passed on July 20, 2016 ordering 10-year-old diesel vehicles off the roads in Delhi-NCR. The NGT had also notified the Delhi transport authorities to initially kick-start the drive with over 15-year-old diesel vehicles. The NGT order also disallows de-registered vehicles from being parked in public places.

K K Dahiya, Special Commissioner (Planning and Project) of the Delhi State Transport Department, told Autocar Professional that the capital has a diesel-engined vehicle parc of 191,000 vehicles of which 85,000 are goods carriers and the remaining personal and non-goods vehicles.

Since the de-registration drive commenced formally this month, the Transport Department has notified the Delhi Police about de-registering 1,000 diesel vehicles which are over the 15-year cut-off period.

The Road Transport Department has also de-registered some personal vehicles in Delhi which were re-registered after completion of 15 years, deeming them to be de-registered as per individual notification to the owners through a public notice to the Delhi Police. Thereafter, the necessary action will be taken for impounding these vehicles by the police authorities. 

“We have identified 21 police stations in Delhi for sending the de-registered vehicles from where they will be forwarded for scrapping. We are still working out which scrapping agency the automobiles should be sent to,” adds Dahiya. Thus far, the Delhi police have impounded 50 diesel vehicles that were plying on Delhi roads and have not been re-registered by their owners after completion of 15 years. The Transport department identifies the old vehicles from the list of vehicles registered at RTOs.

In the case of trucks and buses, the commercial vehicles have to undergo a fitness certification after the first two years and subsequently every year to enable them to ply on the roads.