Delhi road tax offer: Dump your old cars, get mega rebate on new ones

New Delhi: The residents of Delhi will be eligible for road tax concession if they scrap their old vehicles before buying new ones. The government approved the scheme on Friday and sent the proposal to the Lieutenant Governor for final assent. This is a step towards reducing vehicular pollution in Delhi by promoting new vehicles with upgraded fuel standards.

Once the scheme is approved by the LG, a maximum concession of 25 percent on road tax will be offered for non-transport vehicles and vehicles for personal use. The transport vehicles and public service vehicles will be getting a 15 percent discount. The vehicle owners shall have to produce the certificate of scrapping to become eligible for the rebate. Autos and private vehicles have a one-time payment of the road tax while other vehicles pay it more than once.

The old vehicles in Delhi can be scrapped through the registered scrapping facilities across the city. These centres will issue a certificate of scraping after the process. Diesel vehicles older than 10 years and petrol cars older than 15 years are deemed unfit under the city's vehicle scrapping policy. As per a recent order of the Delhi Transport Department issued after directions from the National Green Tribunal (NGT), all diesel vehicles older than 10 years will automatically be deregistered in the city. The latest winter action plan to fight pollution in Delhi calls for strict measures to ensure that 10-year-old diesel vehicles and 15-year-old petrol vehicles are off the roads.

As many as 380 special teams have been formed in Delhi to ensure the enforcement of the PUC (Pollution Under Control Certificate) policy in the city. More than 200 congested roads have been identified and efforts to de-congest them will be taken up. The vehicles will be redirected to alternate routes. The government is also planning to place restrictions on non-CNG commercial vehicles from other states to NCR.