NGT verdict: Over 29 lakh vehicles set to go off city roads

More than 29 lakh vehicles will go off the capital's roads following a National Green Tribunal order putting a ban on plying of vehicles older than 15 years, the Delhi government has said.
Dismayed at the increasing level of air pollution in Delhi, the NGT had on November 26 barred all vehicles - private cars, bikes, commercial vehicles, buses and trucks - over 15 years old from plying in the capital.
"After the NGT's order, we studied the number of vehicles which are over 15 years old and found that there are more than 29 lakh such vehicles, including over 8 lakh four-wheelers (including cars) and more than 20 lakh two-wheelers (bikes and scooters), plying across the national capital," said a senior government official told PTI.

The official said NGT has called a meeting on December 2 and "we will put up the numbers of these vehicles there". In this meeting, officials will also devise modalities for implementation of the green tribunal's order.
According to the government, there are several vehicles that are over 15 years old and have been issued five-year fitness extension. "We will also have to decide the fate of such vehicles... In Tuesday's meeting, this matter will also be discussed," he added.
The tribunal had on November 28 made it clear that the ban order will also apply to the buses owned and/or under contract with Haryana, Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan, Punjab and all other states whose buses are coming to Delhi from the destination of their respective states.

"As per the green court's order, we will also have to make a strategy to ban the entry of private vehicles, which are more than 15 years old, but are coming from other states, in the national capital," the official added.
In its order on November 26, a bench, headed by NGT chairperson Justice Swatanter Kumar, had directed that wherever such vehicles of this age are noticed, the concerned authorities shall take appropriate steps in accordance with law including seizure of the vehicles.
"It is undisputed and in fact unquestionable that the air pollution of NCT, Delhi, is getting worse with each passing day. It not only projects the very dismayed state of affairs existing with clear indication that worst is likely to follow...," the bench had said.