Supreme Court orders seizure of 15 year old petrol
vehicles , 10 year old diesel variants in Delhi
VEHICLE POPULATION of Delhi :
Vehicles facing impounding =
37,91,917
Petrol Vehicles less than
15 years
= 67,67,897
Diesel Vehicles less than 10
years = 5,24,487
Total Vehicles = 1,10,84301
In 2016 alone , some 10 lakh
new vehicles got added . Assume 11 lakhs in 2017 and 12 lakhs in 2018
May be some 4 lakh vehicles
are becoming older than 15 years of age , year after year and will need to be
scrapped
PAST INTERVENTIONS :
In 2015, The National Green Tribunal had banned such
vehicles
In 2016 , NGT had asked the authorities ( RTO ? ) to
de-register all 10 year old diesel vehicles in the capital . In an appeal
against this , SC refused to annul NGT order
CURRENT ORDERS :
# To Central
Pollution Control Board [ CPCB ]
Immediately create a Social Media web site or account where people could
complain
about air pollution
# To the Government ( State Government ? )
Impound all OLD vehicles in the NCR
# To Transport
Department
Publish a
list of such vehicles on your web site and also impound them if found on the
Road. Also publish the list in newspapers. Prevent
such vehicles from entering Delhi
In the meantime , for the next 10 days , EPCA (
Environment Pollution – Prevention and Control – Authority ), has issued
following orders :
# Stop all stone crushers and hot mix plants
# Stop working
of all industries using coal and biomass as fuel
# Stop all
diesel generators ( DG sets )
# Shut down
brick kilns in Haryana, Rajasthan and UP
# Close down
the industrial area of Mundka
# All Chief
Secretaries of the states involved to set up teams to patrol and impose fines
on violators for garbage burning , industrial
air pollution , dust mismanagement and
visibly polluting vehicles
QUESTIONS :
# Ownership of old
vehicles
·
Do current owners of the impounded vehicles
still continue to remain as “ owners “ ?
·
If not , ownership passes on to whom ? To Central / State Govt ? Municipality
?
# Storage of old
vehicles
·
Assume each vehicle needs 12 feet x 8 feet
= 100 sq ft of storage area
On that basis , 38 lakh
vehicles will need 3,530 Hectares
of storage yard area
I believe , currently even
for its disposal of 10,000 tons of daily garbage , Delhi needs 800 hectares ,
which it does not have !
Where is Authority going
to find 3,530 hectares ? – even if , each year , incoming 3 lakh old vehicles
gets balanced out by outgoing ( being scrapped ) 3 lakh vehicles
# Cost of towing away and storage
·
For towing away each old vehicle ,
contractor will charge at least Rs 300
Multiply this with 38 Lakh
vehicles !
Annual storage cost will
be another Rs 500 per vehicle ( guards / lighting etc )
As per the latest draft manual on municipal solid waste management
prepared by the Union Ministry of Urban Development, three million tonnes of waste can be accommodated on 40 ha of land ( keeping in mind that the life of a landfill is 20 years).
Delhi needs 800 ha of land for its garbage dumps alone , which
would cost Rs 80,000 crore going by the present circle rate !
How much money will be required for 3,530 hectares ? To be raised by
taxes ?
# Disposal
·
If ownership still vests with the current
owners then do authorities have any right to dispose off the vehicles ( ie :
sell to scrap dealers ? )
·
If yes , do authorities have to credit
current owners’ account with the sale-proceeds ?
·
If ownership gets automatically transferred
to the “ Authorities “ , how is it supposed to dispose off these vehicles so
that these do nor “ re-appear “ on the roads after a few weeks ?
# Why scrap entire vehicle
? Why not retrofit ?
·
In an OLD vehicle,
Only “ Polluting Sub
Assembly “ is the ENGINE
Other “ Non-Polluting Sub
Assemblies “ are :
Body – Chasis – Transmission – Tyres etc
So , why SCRAP those
non-polluting parts ?
Why not just scrap the old
engine and retro-fit the vehicle with a brand NEW engine ( BS VI compliant ) ?
That will mean
re-utilizing some 80 % of the asset and , at the same time getting rid of the
air pollution !
·
If the SC insists that the entire OLD vehicle
must be scrapped , then the questions are :
# How many years will it take them to finish
this mammoth job ?
# Scrapping will use Oxy-Acetylene torches for
cutting the vehicles . Will that not
Add tremendously
to Delhi’s air pollution ?
# Impact on Employment
·
Even if we assume that some 28 lakh ( out
of these 38 lakh old ) vehicles are “ Owner Driven “ , then the remaining 10
lakh must be driven by employed drivers
From today , they will be
without a job !
# Supreme Court of New Delhi
?
In
one of my earlier blog ( dt 11
May 2016
) , I wrote :
·
Is air pollution only affecting the people of Delhi ?
·
Is it not as bad in
cities like Mumbai / Kolkata / Chennai / Bangalore etc ?
·
Why are MLAs of these States not enacting laws to control
pollution ?
·
Why is Supreme Court passing orders ( diesel vehicles / taxies )
only for Delhi ?
·
Does Supreme Court
think that citizens of these other cities are immune to the ill
effects of pollution caused by diesel
vehicles ?
·
Why are State
Legislatures happy to " pass the buck " to Supreme Court ?
That is " Abdication of Responsibility
" !
References :
PIYUSH PLAN ? …………………………………………
[ 27 March 2016 ]
Retiring Old Vehicles - Gadkari Style ? ……….
[ 30 May 2016 ]
Young or Old ? ………………………………………………[ 27 Aug 2016 ]
From OLD to NEW ? No , go NEWER ! ……….[ 22 Sept 2016 ]
Building Castles in the Air ? ………………………..[ 12 March 2017 ]
Best out of a Bad Bargain ? ………………………….[ 29 March 2017 ]
Car Grave-Yard of World ? ……………………………[ 14 Feb 2018 ]
One door closes ; Another
opens ……………..[ 27 Feb 2018 ]
Mahindra Accelo : Saluting a pioneer …………..[ 19 June 2018 ]
Scrapping Old Vehicles : Swiss Challenge Solution [ 24 July 2018 ]
01
Nov
2018
www.hemenparekh.in / blogs
No comments:
Post a Comment