Diesel vehicles over 10 years to go off roads in Delhi from Jan 1

Bhubaneswar/Delhi:  The Delhi government, following the directions of the National Green Tribunal (NGT), will deregister all diesel run vehicle in the city that will complete 10 years on January 1, 2022 and issue no objection certificate (NOC) for the same so they could be re-registered in other places.

However, as per an order recently issued by the Delhi transport department, no such directions have been made for diesel vehicles which have completed 15 years or more on the date of applying for it.

The NGT, in an order in July 2016, had mentioned that it will deregister diesel vehicles which would have completed a lifespan of 10 years, without default in January 1, 2021. Deregistration of 15 year-old vehicles were taken up in the first instance. It further mentioned that NOC for 10 year-old diesel vehicles and 15-year-old petrol vehicles would later be issued for other places in the country, with exceptions for the states that have been identified as restricted areas for re-registration.

While the NGT has directed states to identify areas with deteriorated air quality, the transport department said that the owners of the vehicles will be given the options to convert their 10-year-old diesel or 15-year-old petrol vehicles into electric ones if they wished to continue using those vehicles. In the other cases, the vehicles of aforementioned running span would be scrapped by authorized vendors.

(With agency inputs)