Overage vehicles in NCR adding to pollution: Panel

As noxious air annually envelops Delhi and NCR after puja festivities, the Commission for Air Quality Management (CAQM) has informed the Supreme Court that though farm fires have reduced by 50% in the last three years, a large fleet of overaged vehicles in these states accentuate the choking effect.

In an affidavit, CAQM informed the court that concentrated action by Centre and state govts saw stubble burning incidents decrease by 49% from 71,304 in 2021 to 36,663 in 2023 in Punjab. During the same period Haryana saw farm fires reduce from 6,987 to 2,303, it said.

“With persistent field level efforts and targeted policy initiatives in the short-medium-long term, it is expected that instances of paddy stubble burning in Punjab and Haryana will see a definite and marked improvement, with consequent improvement in the air quality of Delhi-NCR during the paddy harvesting season,” it said.

However, it flagged the “far from satisfactory” action by Delhi, Haryana and Uttar Pradesh in phasing out overage and end-of-life vehicles and said there is a marked lethargy on part of authorities to impound such vehicles. CAQM said Delhi has 59,28,675 overaged vehicles, but only 22,397 were impounded in 2023 and 308 more in 2024 (till June). The story is similar in Haryana, which has 27.5 lakh overage vehicles but only 220 were impounded in 2023 and 137 more in 2024 (till June). Uttar Pradesh, which has 11.8 lakh overage vehicles, did a relatively better job as it impounded 3,058 overage vehicles in 2023 and 537 more in 2024 (till June).

However, it told the SC that NCR states have been more active in penalising polluting vehicles. Delhi issued 1.64 lakh challans in 2023 and the numbers registered a marked increase to 1.82 lakh challans in the first six months of 2024.

Haryana too appeared more active in 2024 as till June it penalised 91,266 vehicles compared to 11,135 in 2023. The drive against polluting vehicles appeared sluggish in Rajasthan where the police penalised 6,154 polluting vehicles in 2023 and 5,502 more in the first six months of 2024.

On EVs, CAQM said Delhi with over 3 lakh such vehicles, has only 3,100 charging stations equipped with 4,793 points. It said Delhi govt plans to increase it to 18,000 charging points by 2025-26. UP has over 1 lakh EVs with a meagre 171 charging points, and proposes to provide additional 257 charging points by 2025-26. Haryana has over 95,000 electric vehicles but provided 305 charging points. The state plans to provide 170 additional charging points by 2025-26.