[V.Narayan]

Originally Posted by Lobogris

Now, the Delhi government has announced they will ask the Supreme Court to review its order. I wonder why their own Transport Department issues the strict order on one hand while they claim to want to appeal against this rule?


Delhi govt set to ask SC to review ban on old petrol, diesel vehicles in city - https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/...m_source=email

Thank you for sharing this. These worthies are conflicted in multiple dimensions between the temptations of the car makers, the need for political posturing {look Momma we are doing something}, the need to at least have a fig leaf that they are doing the right thing and confusion about what is the right thing. The three actions that did reduce pollution in Delhi-NCR were the building of the Metro and the Supreme Court led action on converting auto rickshaws to gas and moving polluting industries out of the city.

The main sources of air pollution in Delhi include vehicle exhaust, heavy industry such as power generation, small-scale industries like brick kilns, suspended dust on the roads due to vehicle movement and construction activities, road & pavement digging with mud left lying around, open waste burning, combustion of fuels for cooking, lighting, and heating, and in-situ power generation via diesel generator sets. Compounding the problem are seasonal emissions from dust storms, forest fires, and open field fires during harvest season.

For reasons best left unsaid the Delhi Govt is ignoring several of the other causes and focusing only on one - vehicle exhaust pollution. And within that the least polluting community i.e. the cars leaving the 2-wheelers, non-taxi 3-wheelers, trucks effectively untouched. The mud left behind unattended when the municipality & other Govt departments dig up roads and pavements throw up the worst of the fine particles. Anyone who has walked the roads knows that. But how does the Govt reform itself.

[no_fear]

Originally Posted by V.Narayan

The mud left behind unattended when the municipality & other Govt departments dig up roads and pavements throw up the worst of the fine particles. Anyone who has walked the roads knows that. But how does the Govt reform itself.

Very well said sir.

Pollution in Gurgaon is higher than Delhi. Half constructed roads, dirt and dust lying all around, indiscriminate cutting of trees, environmental degradation, you name it, you will get it.

There is a marked difference in the quality of air when you drive from Gurgaon to Noida.

[Raghu M]

You are just trying to move the concentration of pollution from one place to another with this court order. A petrol car if maintained well can be a good beater car after 10 years. I don't see a point as to why owners would be ready to scrap it. I wouldn't. They generally sell them to nearby areas which is very logical.

[anjan_c2007]

The dismal figure of 0.075 % speaks volumes about the ill-thought and totally ill-conceived ban on older automobiles.

Now what next? Two auto majors are getting huge scrapyards commissioned to decimate and guillotine older automobiles. Some more are in the fray. If this 0.075% figure holds true on an all India basis, their starved scrapyards may turn metal, plastic and rubber hungry and ultimately starve to death.

Then what next? These auto makers could again suggest portable, mini scrapping plants that move from locality to locality. The Rs 10,000 fine and immediate "scrap at sight"(like "shoot at sight" ) could fulfil their agenda and also fill the scrappers, hungry stomachs.

The loud mouthed VIP's talk of eliminating 9 million supposedly polluting, older vehicles all over India, making India pollution free, liveable, green and so on. These ignorant VIP's have viewed rosy PowerPoint presentations by their Babus, who with the "very intelligent" talks could have even got promotions by now.

Hence, going by these figures in the NCR as a microcosm, when viewed on a larger canvas as the all India scenario, the proposed Scrapping Policy could surely turn out to be a lemon.

[for_cars1]

Any vehicle irrespective of age that genuinely passes the pollution check (PUC) as per the current emission norms should be allowed to ply on the roads. Period.

Majority of privately owned cars would have run at max about 1 to 1.5 lakh KMs in 10 years. If well maintained, these cars can easily run many lakh KMs without deteriorating into a polluting vehicle.

In a country with so much disparity and meagre resources, it is a pure sin to forcibly scrap such low run private diesel vehicles that are in good condition.
They should be atleast allowed to be used in rural and other areas where pollution and vehicle density is not much of a concern.

We can't afford to scrap perfectly good non polluting vehicles just because they are 10 years old.
Such an illogical scrappage policy only points to the pressure from automobile manufacturing lobbies to influence creation of such rules to increase their sales.

Scrapping 10 year old commercial diesel vehicles may be more logical in cases the vehicles have run many lakhs of KMs thereby fully exhausting the engine's service life and turning into high soot/particulate emitting vehicles.

[LEOMAN]

Such a sad state in national capital of India. I own four diesel cars , out of which are already more than 10 years old . I still would urge that my cars would be less polluting than newer gen Best buses, Trucks which emit a lot of smoke , two stroke 2 wheelers , CNG autos flying over western suburbs of Mumbai . Our government has stopped applying brains while making such laws. Its just another money making racket or trap for already suffering middleclass population, which has not recovered from the pandemic yet.
Its disheartening to scrap my bmw 530d even in 2026, which still has the best performance, reliability and a great bodyline to offer. I cant imagine what would be my mind state at that time.

[tarik.arora]

Barring the debatable policy, are we looking at the right numbers? The articles says that Delhi has nearly 75 lac registered vehicles, off which 35 lac Petrol and 3 lac Diesel vehicles are scrap-worthy? Which means, if this rule is implemented with rigor, every second car registered in Delhi will be scrapped? Am I reading this correctly?

[PratyushJaya]

As far as I know, "scrapping" in India is the process of ripping out all the plastics and wiring and then crushing whatever metal was left. The engine is sometimes saved and the transmission is also sent for recycling.

All the plastics trims and pieces which are no longer made or hard to find just go to waste dump. All the wiring and electronics which can be reused go to waste. Except the metal almost nothing is economically recyclable.

Poorly maintained BS6 cars might also emit more pollutants than a decently maintained BS3 or BS4. With all the increased plastics and features in newer cars, we are pushing more pollution into our atmosphere. What is the goal at the end?

I am yet to read a study where its proven that scrapping a 10/15 year old vehicle and replacing it with a new one brings down pollution. If anyone has the source please tag me.


The motto is REDUCE. REUSE. RECYCLE.
Not DISCARD. PURCHASE.

[woodstock3001]

Lawmakers are at their best while creating laws. Nonsense & without any after thoughts.

However, I need a bit of clarity.

If someone owns a diesel car, which is well above 10 years, but is registered in Uttrakhand State, will he be liable to pay 10k fine if found plying on Delhi roads ?

[CARDEEP]

It makes sense to get an old vehicle (that does not comply to legislation) scrapped. However, many people are using such vehicles in NCR to block (forever) parking spots & also execute shady deals with dealers where they save money on purchase of new vehicles (it's happening in NCR a lot).

I also know few people who have simply left the vehicle in remote areas of neighbouring states with their relatives, which helps avoid transfer of ownership. I did suggest a couple of relatives to get is scrapped with Mahindra Creo, but they opted for other means.

Summarizing, Indians prefer breaking or circumventing laws & then blame Govt for not doing anything on pollution front.

[sammyboy]

Sadly, yes. It doesn't matter which state your car is registered in. If it's a diesel and over 10 years, you are a paying customer for the government.

Originally Posted by woodstock3001

If someone owns a diesel car, which is well above 10 years, but is registered in Uttrakhand State, will he be liable to pay 10k fine if found plying on Delhi roads ?

[manmohanmaan]

Hi, is this ban and fine applicable on out-of-state vehicles that pass through Delhi or belong to visiting tourists / business folks too ?

[Ashdel]

Being a Delhi-ite and have to part ways with my 9 years old Swift Vdi to a seller in Punjab 2 years back. It did around 1.9 L km and i can assure that it would pass all kind of tests - which would certify it to be a "Fit Car" and run for couple of years more.

BHPians love their cars like their own baby - i might be a exception, which would call it my "First Wife"

[Mustang Sammy]

Originally Posted by AKSarkar1

+1 to this. Such policies are absolutely uncalled for. I get the fact that it might be "beneficial" to the environment but to what extent? All cars over 15 years old aren't rampant polluters and a 'threat' to the environment. Instead, the government should isolate the super polluters like autos, taxis, etc (not meaning to generalizing that only they pollute). When the common man doesn't have money to make ends meet, taxing him/her 10K+ Rupees is logical as per which economical theory?

I'm sure car owners even wouldn't mind going for a yearly test to check the overall health (engine + body etc) to ensure that the car is fit to ply on Delhi-NCR roads instead of just assuming that all old cars are polluting rust buckets and need to be scrapped.

Manufacturing is also a polluting activity, not to mention the environmental impact of mining and extracting the raw materials that go into the making of a car. This throw away culture is the cause of much of the environmental degradation we see all around us.

Maintaining the car well and staying in compliance with pollution control norms that it was built for should be sufficient IMHO.

[Sanidhya mukund]

Originally Posted by manmohanmaan

Hi, is this ban and fine applicable on out-of-state vehicles that pass through Delhi or belong to visiting tourists / business folks too ?

Yes, it is applicable to all cars, even those who are just passing through the NCR region to go elsewhere.

Originally Posted by tarik.arora

Barring the debatable policy, are we looking at the right numbers? The articles says that Delhi has nearly 75 lac registered vehicles, off which 35 lac Petrol and 3 lac Diesel vehicles are scrap-worthy? Which means, if this rule is implemented with rigor, every second car registered in Delhi will be scrapped? Am I reading this correctly?

From what I could understand, the figure of 38 lakh [35+3] is the number of cars in Delhi that are banned. 75 lakh is the number of those cars that can still run legally.