The Delhi Transport Department has impounded more than 1,200 overage vehicles in a drive launched earlier this month, keeping the deteriorating air quality in consideration.

 According to the Delhi Transport Department's official data, the 1,251 seized vehicles include 140 four-wheeler diesel vehicles over 10 years old and 446 petrol two-wheelers and 665 petrol three-and four-wheelers, all over 15 years old. Delhi has a large number of registered vehicles, with two-wheelers making up about two-thirds of the total. Vehicles are the main source of air pollution in Delhi, accounting for 41% of the total pollution load.

 On Tuesday, the Transport Department also launched an online portal for the owners of the overage seized vehicle to scrape, retrieve, or sell their overage vehicles along with a Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) to streamline the whole process.

 As the drive intensified, the transport department directed all Registered Vehicle Scrapping Facilities (RVSFs) to follow the 'Guidelines for Handling End-of-Life Vehicles in Public Places of Delhi, 2024', in accordance with a Delhi High Court ruling. Officials have cautioned that failure to comply may lead to an RVSF being excluded from the initiative.

 According to a public notice issued by the Transport Department on October 10, more than 55 lakh overage vehicles have been de-registered so far in the national capital.

 Earlier this month, the Delhi Transport Department launched a fresh round of crackdowns on overage vehicles, an exercise that will continue till December to combat air pollution in the national capital.

 The department has asked traffic police to deploy four teams in every municipal zone in coordination with its enforcement wing to impound diesel and petrol-run vehicles, older than 10 and 15 years, respectively.