Ban old vehicles; are you kidding?

It’s easy for any tribunal, whether green or blue, to put a ban on vehicles. Earlier, as per the Motor Vehicles norms in the country, a vehicle life was put at 15 years, beyond which the vehicle needed to be get a fitness certificate for itself. Once it cleared all kinds of fitness, whether it is its chassis strength, its metal body quality, working condition of its different lights and sensors, its tail pipe emissions, etc it would be given a new lease of life for five years.

Some vehicles went on to become classics and vintage products and became priceless in nature. Today it would cost a bomb to buy any vehicle that belongs to this category. Why is the National Green Tribunal so myopic in its views? First, it banned vehicles in Delhi that were more than 15 years old. Then it came with another shocker when it banned diesel vehicles more than 10 years old. The National Green Tribunal was established on October 18, 2010 under the National Green Tribunal Act 2010 for effective and expeditious disposal of cases relating to environmental protection and conservation of forests and other natural resources including enforcement of any legal right relating to environment and giving relief and compensation for damages to persons and property and for matters connected therewith or incidental thereto. It is a specialised body equipped with the necessary expertise to handle environmental disputes involving multi-disciplinary issues. This is what the tribunal’s website says.

In extremely advanced countries like the US, there is no ban on old vehicles. I know of people who drive 20 year old cars to work. Of course, it is mandatory that all these vehicles are maintained in mint condition and are not polluting the environment. The tribunal should know that even though on an average people sell their car when it attains five or so years of age, there is another set of people that buys old vehicles. These are now being increasingly bought from organised second hand vehicle outlets which are run and controlled by the vehicle manufacturers themselves. Mahindra First Choice, for example, sells used cars and also ensures that these are sold by them in very good condition. Ditto is the case with several other vehicle manufacturers, whether it is top end players like Mercedes-Benz, BMW and Audi or mass market players like Maruti Suzuki and Hyundai Motor India.

India has always been enforcing some very silly ways t control vehicle pollution. First and foremost, let’s take the case of pollution checks. These have to be done every three months, putting hundreds of thousands of people to a lot of misery. Pollution check for a car costs Rs 80. That translates into Rs 320 every year for the four mandatory pollution checks. Instead of this why can they not have an overall vehicle check every year, where the government controlled outlets does a check of everything about the vehicle, from its body, its lights, brakes, exhaust emissions etc? Let them charge Rs 1000/- or so, and let them test the vehicle on a treadmill and give it a fitness test certificate valid for one year. But again, these testing agencies should be spread across the country with qualified people and modern equipment. It should not run like the way our driving licence offices or passport offices run. They should function like modern centres and should be franchised to private parties.

I fully agree to the fact that cars do cause pollution, but then so do human beings and animals. The answer does not lie in banning them or killing them. Motor vehicles help us to transport goods from one place to another, apart from taking us on our respective journeys. Instead of banning vehicles, the solution lies in making better roads and other infrastructure. Also, there should be multi level parking in every residential locality and office complexes. Instead of parking vehicles on roads, let people park their vehicles in these parking outlets.

Let me give you an example how the Indian government operates. The Abdul Ghaffar Khan Marg that connects Mehrauli and Mahipalpur in New Delhi’s South West region is an extremely busy road. It connects a good part Delhi to the T3 International Airport. It’s been in existence for more than 25 odd years and plans to make it a six-lane or eight -lane road has still not fructified. The reason is simple. Trees block every part of the road. Yes, you find trees in the middle of the road! The road itself is of very bad quality and to top it there are two illegal colonies that have sprung up on either side of the road, one in Masudpur and the other in Mahipalpur. Because of traffic jams, vehicle pollution is on the rise. Let the Green Tribunal give orders to chop the trees.

Curbing pollution cannot be achieved by simply growing more and more trees. You have got to chop the ones that block your way, so that vehicles ply in an orderly fashion. Let me give you another example, in Vasant Kunj’s D4 block a massive tree has been uprooted in a squall that occurred almost three weeks back. The tree is resting on another massive tree and hence has not crashed on the road yet. Despite complaints, the fallen tree has not been chopped off and cleared. Someday it could crash on the expensive cars parked nearby.  What has the Green Tribunal got to say on this? How often does the Green Tribunal give orders to prune awkwardly growing trees in the country? When was the last pruning of trees done in India and where?

My friends, look at the larger picture. Make India perfect by improving its infrastructure. Banning cars is not the solution. In case you want to ban old vehicles, come out with a cash-for-clunker scheme. Pay Rs 50,000 or Rs 60,000 to those willing to dispose of their old vehicles that are in working condition. The government should buy these vehicles and destroy them. It would reduce the number of old vehicles in the country.

If you were to ask me, they should wind up the National Green Tribunal. It is more of an irritant than a solution provider. If the government is serious about curbing pollution, they should have a national population policy and ensure that not many more are born in this country which is bursting at its seams. Rampant deforestation is taking place all over the country. Forest land is being grabbed and converted into resorts and homes.

Banning old vehicles is not the answer. Lay down the right infrastructure and ensure that vehicles are allowed to ply smoothly. This itself will bring down vehicle pollution drastically, because engines will be able to perform more efficiently and there would be less of wear and tear. Good and modern INFRASTRUCTURE is the answer to controlling pollution. That could also mean, chopping more trees! As for the National Green Tribunal, it should be shut and thrown into the deep sea!!