10-year-old diesel vehicles not to be registered in state

Ambika Sharma

Tribune News Service

Solan, October 2

The Directorate of Transport will not register over 10-year-pld diesel commercial vehicles of other states. The move comes in view of the high pollution created by such vehicles.

The step follows the NGT directions to de-register such vehicles in Delhi and the NCR in view of the high level of emissions. The tribunal had stated that emissions from diesel vehicles were carcinogenic in nature and one diesel vehicle caused pollution equivalent to 24 petrol vehicles.

Following these directions, there was a high probability of such vehicles finding way into Himachal Pradesh where environmental conditions were found to be better. Officials of the State Pollution Control Board (SPCB) had, however, taken up this issue with the Transport Department as the rising number of vehicles in the state was emerging as the single largest factor of air pollution.

The board also based its argument on the findings of a report of the IIT-Kanpur whereby it was stated that vehicular emissions contributed 81 per cent to air pollution in the state’s industrial hub of Baddi-Barotiwala-Nalagarh (BBN) area. With a multifold increase in the vehicular traffic in the state in recent years, emissions had also increased considerably and under such circumstances it would not be prudent to allow registration of old diesel vehicles de-registered in Delhi and the NCR, said SPCB officials.

There were about 35,000 diesel trucks in the state, including 12,000 in the BBN, while other industrial clusters like Parwanoo, Kala Amb, Mehatpur, Paonta Sahib etc. too had a sizeable number of trucks in the state that were used for transporting industrial goods and apples.

Though the state government has no age limit fixed for de-registering old vehicles, the Transport Department has decided not to register more than 10-year-old diesel commercial vehicles of other states in order to achieve the optimum air-quality levels.

The Central Pollution Control Board had enlisted six industrial clusters, including Baddi, Damtal, Kala Amb, Nalagarh, Paonta Sahib, Parwanoo and Sunder Nagar (Mandi district) as non-attainment cities where the air quality was not as per prescribed norms. This also necessitated the need to ensure that old diesel vehicles were not registered in the state.

Sanjay Sood, Member Secretary, SPCB, while confirming the news said since the emission levels of old diesel vehicles were found to be highly noxious in nature, the issue of disallowing registration of such vehicles was taken up with the Transport Department.

Maintaining optimum air quality 

• Though the state has no age limit fixed for de-registering old vehicles, the Transport Department has decided not to register more than 10-year-old diesel commercial vehicles of other states in order to achieve optimum air-quality levels
• The step comes after NGT ordered to de-register such vehicles in Delhi and the NCR in view of the high level of emissions
• The tribunal had stated that emissions from diesel vehicles were carcinogenic in nature and one diesel vehicle caused pollution equivalent to 24 petrol vehicles