Delhi Car Owners Upset And Angry Over Forcible Junking Of ‘Perfectly Fit And Fine Vehicles In Good Condition’ News24 –

Rapid depreciation and now the 10-year ‘kicked out’ rule for diesel vehicles in Delhi and its neighborhood has the car-owning middle class in shock, and fury.
Now enforced in Delhi, the new rules phasing out aged vehicles will be introduced in NCR areas —Gurgaon, Faridabad, Ghaziabad, Gautam Budh Nagar and Sonipat — too within the next few months where in end-of-life vehicles will be impounded.

Within a couple of days of the rule’s enforcement from July 1, hundreds of aged vehicles have been taken off the roads, sparking off anger amongst the car owners, who wonder as to why the developed west allows vehicles that are even 40 year- old if they conform to all the norms, India must ditch vehicles that are just ten years old.

Already burdened with high-cost vehicles made further expensive with a slew of taxes in addition to running costs that get inflated with tolls on the roads and highways, the car owners this time are hopping mad that the government wants them to junk absolutely fit and fine cars just because they are ten years old. And fifteen years for petrol engine driven cars.

Ex-serviceman and ex-Director Hotelrez Ltd, a hotel chain, Lt Col Chandra Mohan Jagota, was particularly angry at the new vehicle rules that junked vehicles that were in perfect running condition.
“How could the government pass such arbitrary orders? I don’t understand! Has our public transport been able to solve the prevailing hardships that users go through?

Shouldn’t the government build facilities for people or enforce such blanket bans,” he said launching into a barrage of questions to the government?

“I have painstakingly ensured that every car I have ever owned has retained its pristine condition in which it left the showroom. I never had to advertise to resell them, they were bought right away. How come such vehicles cause increased pollution? He continued in anger.

Why in Europe, 40-year old vehicles are running around. Should not the government have invested in a critical test to decide the fate of the vehicle like the MOT (Ministry of Transport Test) in the United Kingdom?”

And he is not the only one, everyone news24online.com spoke to at petrol stations in Noida, has similar questions directed at the government. And anger too.

In a country like India, where owning a car is akin to winning a lifetime achievement award, this new rule, enforced from July 1, will force many to abandon cars.
The government has already begun enforcing the rule with the result that hundreds of EOL vehicles have been seized in Delhi and its neighbourhood within two days. In Noida too similar action may start in November, petrol pump attendants claimed.

The seized EOL vehicles would attract a fine of Rs 10,000 and a journey to a designated scrap yard.
Added to this, the seemingly prohibitive car prices and its overall cost on the road threatens to put a damper on the sale of cars — well small cars for sure, at the entry level.

Digvijay Singh, a businessman from Delhi, said, “Every owner uses their vehicle differently. In case you buy a vehicle that costs 15 lakh, you would lose close to Rs 1 lakh of its value every year due to depreciation. Is the average per capita income of Delhi residents enough that each vehicle owner can get a new vehicle every 15 years? he questioned.

The really well-off may not feel the pinch of the new vehicle ownership rules, but for the middle class, this poses a big challenge felt the driver of a big luxury car.
Majority of the people news24online.com spoke with were hoping for some concession from the government when it came to junking vehicles in good shape.