Old diesel vehicles can run in some areas of UP, says NGT

New Delhi: The National Green Tribunal (NGT) on Friday provided a three-year breather to over 10-year-old diesel vehicles which carry essential goods like food and petroleum around Uttar Pradesh's Muzaffarnagar and Bulandshahr.

The bench, headed by Justice Swatanter Kumar, however said that the trucks will not be allowed inside the National Capital Region and they will have to convert to CNG in the given period of three years.

Earlier this year, the Muzaffarnagar Mini Truck Society and Muzaffarnagar-Charathwal-Thana Bhawan-Garhi Kham and Allied Route Union had filed a petition in the NGT seeking relief.

The green court had earlier banned the diesel vehicles older than 10 years from plying on the roads of Delhi and NCR. The order, however, also affected the truckers of Muzzafarnagar, that fell under the ambit of NGT's ban.

The relief is only for those who earlier filed a petition in the NGT.

The Mini Truck Society and Union, in their petition, said that all the diesel trucks being run by them are more than 10 years old and that through these trucks, daily food products, fruits, vegetables and other essential goods are distributed in other districts around Muzaffarnagar.

The society sought relaxation for the 20-year-old trucks instead of 10-year-old ones.

The associations also said that acceptance of heavy-duty vehicles has been assumed to be 20 years and that is why vehicles over 10 years old were being run.

At the same time, the automakers believe that pollution is not dependent on engines, chassis or other parts of the vehicle, but on fuel being fed in the vehicle. Therefore, the vehicle manufacturer also does not fix the age of vehicles.

The trucker's society and Unions had said that since Muzaffarnagar is situated at a distance of about 130 km from Delhi-NCR, air pollution in Delhi-NCR is not caused by trucks running in Muzaffarnagar.

The NGT in its order dated April 7, 2015 had said that all the authorities concerned will not register diesel vehicles more than 10 years old in Haryana, Uttar Pradesh and Delhi.

Due to this order, the Transport Department was not registering older vehicles in many districts across Uttar Pradesh and the society sought relief.