70 per cent of NCR’s trucks likely to go off roads

The National Green Tribunal’s order to de-register diesel vehicles older than 10 years in Delhi and NCR could take away 70 per cent of the goods carriage fleet of the capital and nearly 90 per cent of its private chartered buses.

A day after the ruling, transport department officials were still coming to grips with the enormous impact the order was likely to have.

“There are 1.28 lakh goods carriages in Delhi running on diesel. Of these, almost 90,000 will have to be junked as they are over 10 years old,” an official told TOI. Many of these vehicles carry essential items such as vegetables and milk. Some are used by companies to transport goods.

Besides, around 11,500 buses would have to be deregistered. That’s 88 per cent of the 13,000 diesel buses registered with the department.

Sources said most of these buses are run by private operators with a tourist permit, but actually ply in Delhi-NCR as chartered buses. There are around 1,200 ambulances also registered as diesel vehicles with the transport department. As per the records of the department, around 900 of these will be ineligible to ply if the NGT order is implemented.

NGT order can put 70% of NCR’s trucks off-roads

Government officials said certain modalities would need to be worked out before the order is implemented. “There are directions by the Supreme Court too regarding diesel vehicles. These will be juxtaposed with the NGT order, and clarifications sought before a plan of action is worked out,” said special commissioner of the transport department, KK Dahiya.

Earlier this year, the court had allowed diesel vehicle owners to get an NOC and dispose of their vehicles. However, whether this would still be applicable to the vehicles nearing 10 years or not needs to be clarified, officials said.

They however, admitted that implementation of the NGT order was a mammoth task, especially in view of the sheer numbers involved. According to figures with the transport department, there are 2.82 lakh diesel vehicles in Delhi which will be impacted by the NGT order. Of these, 1.61 lakh are private vehicles.

Source: http://goo.gl/PVlygV