Knee-jerk ban on old vehicles serves no purpose
The Government's plea to the National Green Tribunal to postpone its ban on old vehicles in the Delhi-National Capital Region is welcome. The Tribunal's decision, even if well-intentioned, was a knee-jerk one, and the Government has rightly intervened to ensure that the public is not inconvenienced by a poorly thought-out order. last month, the NGT banned all diesel vehicles that were more than 10 years old, and, before that, in November 2014, it had banned all petrol vehicles that were more than 15 years old. For the NGT, these were major steps towards fighting air pollution in Delhi which, no doubt, has reached alarming proportions.
According to a recent World Health Organisation study, Delhi is one of the most polluted cities in the world, worse than Beijing even, and living in the national capital can shave off three years from one's lifespan. Vehicular emission, alongside industrial emission, is one of the biggest culprits that contribute to air pollution in Delhi. And there is a general consensus that the volume of car fumes needs to be controlled to make Delhi air breathable again, much like the compulsory shift to compressed natural gas for auto-rickshaws a few years ago helped tackle the problem to some extent. However, the matter of how this plan is implemented is crucial for pollution control to be feasible project. A Tughlaqi firman is no solution.
In this context, the NGT's blanket ban has two main flaws, which were underlined by the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways on Monday. First, the ban is oblivious to the fact that many Government and public utility vehicles are more than 10 to 15 years old. Most ambulances, police and postal vans, municipal corporation vehicles, are above the NGT's age limit; and so is a vast majority of trucks and similar heavy vehicles carrying essential goods across the country and forming the backbone of the economy. If all of these were to go off the roads overnight, one can only imagine the scale of chaos that would be unleashed. Prices of food items would sky-rocket, basic services that are provided by the state, such as police patrolling and mail delivery, would be disrupted. In short, the public would be inconvenienced.
The second problem with the NGT's blanket ban is that it wrongly assumes that all old cars are the kiss of death. Well-maintained vehicles of good engineering value can still make for non-polluting rides, even if they are more than 10 to 15 years old. On the flip side, the order ignores the fact that newer vehicles, which may be of poorer quality or have suffered much wear and tear, can be more polluting than older ones that have been gently used. In effect, the NGT unfairly penalises many old car owners while still letting several polluting vehicles remain on the streets.
Viewed together, the Government has rightly suggested to the NGT that, first, the ban be postponed by six months, thereby giving the authorities some time to come up with a more effective plan of action. And second, a targeted approach be taken in deciding which vehicles should not stay on the streets. Moreover, as the Road Transport and Highways Ministry has pointed out, the global best practice in this case is to keep out polluting cars and vehicles, on the basis of regular and comprehensive fitness checks — not on an arbitrary age limit.