Over 1.25 lakh old vehicles to be deregistered for pollution control in Noida

Following an order from the government of Uttar Pradesh, the district transport department has begun a campaign to phase out such vehicles and has begun contacting their owners as of first of October.

Air quality is deteriorating in the capital and with Diwali and stubble burning season around the corner, governments’ concerns have raised to keep the residents of NCR safer.

Assistant Regional Transport Officer (ARTO) Siyaram Verma said, “These vehicles will either be scrapped or a no-objection certificate (NOC) issued for their usage so that they could be used in some select districts that do not fall under NCR.”

Ganesh Saha, the deputy commissioner of police for traffic, informed that the police force was also conducting stricter inspections and fining old vehicles found operating on the roads.

According to the Uttar Pradesh government’s order, such vehicles could be transferred to 34 districts with better air quality after receiving a NOC from the appropriate regional transport offices.

Gautam Buddh Nagar had 8,26,110 registered vehicles, including 94,299 diesel and 7,31,811 petrol, as on 1 October, according to transport department data.

According to the data, 1,34,073 vehicles, or nearly 15% of the total vehicles, will need to be deregistered in order to comply with the green tribunal rules and the state government’s order. 25,238 diesel and 1,08,835 petrol vehicles are among them.

The Uttar Pradesh government reiterated the green tribunal’s 2016 directive on removing outdated vehicles from the National Capital Region, stating that the order to deregister outdated vehicles must be carried out with effectively and without default.

NGT’s directive read, “All the vehicles which are deregistered in Delhi/NCR would not be permitted to ply in Delhi/NCR. However, the authorities will issue NOC for such vehicles to be registered outside Delhi/NCR. We further clarify that in terms of the orders of the tribunal, every state has to identify areas where the dispersion of the air is higher and vehicular density is least.”

“The diesel vehicles which are more than 15 years old and are BS-I (Bharat Stage) or BS-II compliant shall be scrapped and no NOC will be issued for transfer of the vehicles,” it added.

According to the directive, there are 34 districts where old vehicles from the NCR can be transferred, including Etawah, Sant Kabir Nagar, Ambedkar Nagar, Kushinagar, Farrukhabad, Jaunpur, Kannauj, Ballia, Sultanpur, Ghazipur, Mainpuri, Pratapgarh, Siddharthnagar, Maharajganj, Shravasti, Auraiyya, Sonbhadra, Fatehpur, Pilibhit, Shahjahanpur, Lakhimpur, Badaun, Balrampur, Hardoi, Bahraich, Orai, Etah, Kasganj, Mahoba, Lalitpur, Chitrakoot, Hamirpur, Amethi and Bijnor.

(With inputs from PTI)