Scrap end-of-life vehicles caught a 2nd time: Delhi govt

The transport department has said that all end-of-life vehicles (ELV) impounded for the second time by the department will directly be sent to scrapping facilities and not returned. The directions came as the department issued an order notifying guidelines to handle such vehicles on Thursday.

The guidelines were notified after the Delhi high court, on August 22 last year, asked the transport department to frame a policy on the issue and clarify the process to the owners of such vehicles.

“These guidelines are required for effective implementation of various directions of NGT and improvement of air quality in Delhi. Further, a large number of junk vehicles are found abandoned at public places which need to be disposed of in an environment-friendly manner,” the guidelines said.

No vehicle which is older than 15 years is allowed to operate on Delhi roads, according to orders issued by the National Green Tribunal (2015) and the Supreme Court (2018). For diesel vehicles, this time period is 10 years. These rules are meant to cut down on the number of vehicles on the city’s roads with dated emission standards.

The department said that the ELVs can either be transferred to another state or kept in private parking spaces if the owners give an undertaking, specifying details of the private parking space.

“A parking space which has been allotted to the owner inside the residential complex will be considered as a private parking space. Proof of private parking space within the premises of applicant is to be submitted by the applicant, which can be an allotment letter from the RWA or any other authority concerned,” the guidelines added.

In any other case apart from these two scenarios, the ELVs found in public places will be towed away for scrapping and a penalty of ₹10,000 will be imposed along with towing charges on the owner. In the case of two-wheelers, this amount will be ₹5000, along with towing charges.

To be sure, vehicular emissions contribute only around 9% of the PM10 load and around 20% of the PM2.5 load in Delhi, according to a 2016 study by IIT-Kanpur. Particles formed due to smoke from industries and various other sources and burning of garbage were the two main contributors to air pollution in winters, according to preliminary findings of the Delhi government’s real-time source apportionment study in January, 2023.