On Wednesday, officials from the Delhi transport department stated that they will continue to remove parked overage (end of life) vehicles as directed by the National Green Tribunal (NGT) and the Supreme Court, which have ordered the removal of polluting vehicles from Delhi in the interest of the public.On Tuesday, the state transport minister Kailash Gahlot sent a letter to the transport commissioner Ashish Kundra requesting that the removal of overage vehicles for scrapping, which are not being used but parked on the road, should be stopped.Transport minister Kailash Gahlot wrote a letter to transport commissioner Ashish Kundra, stating that he had received reports of enforcement teams of the transport department forcefully towing away parked vehicles that have completed their age validity. Gahlot noted that towing away a parked vehicle is not mandated by law and that the department is only authorised to take action against vehicles that are plying on Delhi roads. He urged the department to discontinue this practice immediately.According to Ashish Kundra, the transport commissioner, it is recommended that Delhi residents obtain a no objection certificate (NOC) from the transport department and sell their overage vehicles. Failure to do so could result in their vehicles being confiscated for scrapping if they are found to be plying on the roads of Delhi or parked on public streets. Kundra emphasised the importance of clean air, noting that air pollution has significant implications for public health, and that it is a shared responsibility to ensure that children are able to breathe clean air.According to the commissioner, the operation against overage vehicles was not conducted on Wednesday due to some confusion, but it will start again. The transport department began a campaign against overage vehicles on March 29, targeting both those that were parked and those that were in use on city roads. The enforcement wing of the department has seized over 2,000 vehicles since the campaign began.Transport Minister Gahlot did not respond to requests for comments. However, he recently met with the special commissioner (enforcement) and advised him against towing parked vehicles as it is both illegal and leads to chaos in the city. As per orders issued by the National Green Tribunal in 2015 and the Supreme Court in 2018, vehicles older than 15 years are not permitted to operate on Delhi roads, while diesel vehicles are limited to 10 years. Such vehicles are referred to as “end-of-life” vehicles by the government.
