National Green Tribunal Bans All Diesel Vehicles More Than 10 Years Old

The National Green Tribunal passed a landmark ruling on Tuesday banning all diesel vehicles in Delhi which are older than 10 years. The tribunal also stated that such vehicles from other states should also not be allowed to enter the Capital.

A five-judge bench, headed by National Green Tribunal chairperson, Justice Swatanter Kumar, passed the order.

“We may mention that a number of countries in the world are in the process or have prohibited diesel vehicles or are in the process of doing away with them by imposing very heavy taxes. We have already noticed that certain stringent measures need to be taken to ensure that residents of the area do not travel closer to ill-health with each breath they take," said the bench.

"We direct all diesel vehicles, heavy or light, which are ten years old will not be permitted on the roads of Delhi and NCR," it directed.

Vehicles that are over 10 years old face an immediate ban, while vehicles more than 15 years old are already banned in Delhi. The Tribunal has also directed for a compliance report on Thursday.

The Tribunal said that passing this ruling was necessary as due to the rapid increase in the air pollution, the life of residents of Delhi is becoming more and more vulnerable to various diseases and the young children are the greatest sufferers.

"It has been pointed out that diesel is the prime source of bringing air pollution in Delhi. Diesel fumes cause damage to the lungs, brain and can cause even cancer. The situation is so alarming that medically people have been even advised to leave Delhi," it said.

The court said ample time has been given to the states but its directives must now be implemented immediately.

According to a World Health Organisation (WHO) report, Delhi had the worst air quality in the world.

Impact on New Car Sales

On a statistical front, the order is expected to impact 118,773 private vehicles and 34,659 commercial vehicles in Delhi. Apart from these more than 5 lakh vehicles enter Delhi which includes around 50,000-75,000 trucks and about 2,500 state transport buses. As all of these run on diesel, they are expected to run into trouble.

This ban on 10-year-old diesel vehicles in Delhi will definitely bring an up rise in the petrol car market. Industry experts opined that the prices of petrol cars are expected to go up as the demand for diesel cars goes down. The government has already thinking of making plans reduce subsidy on diesel.

However, since the fuel prices have magnificently reduced from last June, the sales are expected to be unaffected.

Impact on Used Car Sales 

India's pre-owned car market or the used car market, although in business around for many years, has gained momentum recently with major car manufacturers like Maruti and Mahindra entering the pre-owned car business in a big way. These big players have their own used car resale bodies providing used cars in better condition to their customers at a lesser price. According to the experts the ban on more than 10-year-old diesel vehicles may affect the consumers, but the effect of the ban may not be very huge as a 10-year-old car is already heavily depreciated and people do not prefer buying such old cars as the average life of a passenger car in India is 6-8 years. Also, the ban been implemented only in Delhi is not a nation-wide ban. So, it won’t affect the pre-owned car market much other parts of the country, at least for now.

However, "if similar rules are brought in other cities as well, then the prices of diesel vehicles will definitely take a hit," feel experts.

The National Capital Region, comprising Delhi and adjoining areas, account for nearly 18% of India's overall cars sales and is the largest used car market. Diesel so far accounts for almost a third of the sales.

According to an Economic Times report, “the situation is already severe in the used-car market, where prices have tanked for diesel cars and few takers are left for vehicles that are older than 7-8 years. For instance, prices have dropped 40-60% for pre-used diesel cars. A six-seven-year-old Ford Endeavour now costs as low as Rs 2 lakh, compared with Rs 8 lakh earlier, and an eight-year-old Mahindra Scorpio can be yours for Rs 1 lakh.”

  

Challenges in implementation

The government has been given a 20-hour deadline to implement the order which will be a huge challenge for them. The transport experts have recommended weighbridges and PUC centres at entry points as control measures but nothing has happened so far. Under the current scenario even basic facilities for checking papers are missing at checkpoints. Therefore, experts suggest that unless a proper mechanism is evolved, we will only see more traffic jams at the borders which may prove to be counter-productive. But most of the people have welcomed the ban by NGT suggesting that it will become impossible to battle the growing air pollution problem in Delhi unless some strict measures like these are taken.

Image Source: Downtoearth.org