News: Cops to seize vehicles over 15 years old-15-06-2021
Gurgaon: If you are still using a vehicle older than 15 years, be prepared to face action. Starting Tuesday, the Gurgaon traffic police will start impounding old vehicles and penalising the owners in order to reduce pollution. As per the National Green Tribunal’s (NGT) order, vehicles older than 15 years cannot ply on the roads of Delhi-NCR.
The drive will continue for a week, at least.
“All the traffic cops have been directed to focus on old vehicles, they can identify the same seeing its model and condition,” said DCP (traffic) Ravinder Singh Tomar. “All old vehicles — two-wheelers, four-wheelers or commercial ones — spotted plying on the city’s roads will be seized and their owners will be issued challans.”
Tomar said that an impounded vehicle will be kept at the nearest police station and will be released only after the payment of an additional fine — apart from the on-spot penalty of upto Rs 5,000 for private cars — on the condition that its owner would scrap the same. “Impounded vehicles cannot be used again,” he said.
According to the city’s top traffic cop, the owner of an old vehicle registered in Delhi-NCR has only two options — scrapping it or getting it re-registered in other states. As per Motor Vehicles Rules, a vehicle gets deregistered automatically after the expiry of its life cycle of a maximum of 15 years.
The week-long drive may land many residents in trouble, who are still using their old vehicles. “The life cycle of a vehicle should be raised from 15 to 20 years. Not many can afford to change vehicles after 15 years. A vehicle should be scrapped on the basis of its fitness,” said Samresh Kumar, a resident of Sector 50.
Lavleen Kaur, a resident of Palam Vihar, said the 15-year clause should be used only for commercial vehicles, not for private cars or two-wheelers. “Private vehicles usually remain in good condition as compared to commercial vehicles. Such restrictions are aimed at fuelling the sale of new vehicles.”
Anuradha Sharma, a Sector 40 resident, said the government should focus on augmenting public transport. “Instead of focussing on scrapping old vehicles to curb pollution, authorities should develop a world-class public transport network. This will encourage people to switch from owned cars to public transport.”
