NGT nod to registration of 10 diesel vehicles for fire tending

Relief was granted to department after it informed, it has scrapped 66 old diesel vehicles

The National Green Tribunal (NGT) on Tuesday cleared the decks for registration of 10 new diesel vehicles of Delhi Fire department which are conforming to BS-IV emission norms.

A bench headed by NGT Chairperson Justice Swatanter Kumar granted the relief to the fire department after it was informed that the department has scrapped 66 old diesel vehicles which were more than 10-years-old.

"We permit the 10 vehicles of the fire department to be registered by the Delhi RTO only after certificate of condemning and dismantling of old diesel vehicles is produced," the bench said.

The tribunal's order came after advocate Tarunvir Singh Khehar, appearing for Delhi government, informed the bench that the fire department has scrapped 66 of its old diesel vehicles and bought 10 new diesel vehicles which are BS-IV compliant.

Recently, the NGT had allowed 112 fire-fighting diesel vehicles, more than 10-years-old, to ply on the roads of Delhi but directed the department to take immediate steps to replace the old vehicles.

It had also directed the fire department to either condemn or send such old vehicles outside the city where air dispersion is much higher and vehicular density is less.

The Fire department had approached the green panel seeking registration of its new vehicles as the tribunal had last year banned the registration of new diesel vehicles as well as re-registration after 10 years.

Later, the Supreme Court had also banned registration of diesel-run SUVs and cars having engine capacity beyond 2000cc in Delhi and National Capital Region.

Due to this, the transport department was not registering the newly-procured vehicles, which conform to BS-IV norms and not re-registering the old vehicles, the fire department said.

In a jolt to diesel car owners in the national capital, the Tribunal had directed the Delhi government to cancel the registration of all diesel-powered vehicles which are more than 10 years old from plying in the city.

Later, the tribunal had clarified that such deregistration of 15 to 10 years old diesel vehicles in the national capital would be carried out in a phased manner.