Delhi has always been at the forefront of the pollution and climate change discussion. Not only because it consistently tops the most polluted cities list every other year. But also, for its significance as one of the oldest seats of power in the entire subcontinent. Any changes made here reflect deeply on the policy decisions taken by neighboring states and cities.
We have already seen examples of such actions, in the form of the odd-even experiment to the nightly commercial vehicle curfews. From the construction and fireworks ban to even the installation of giant air purifiers to clean up the air inside the city. The city and its government have tried a lot of methods to curb the menace of pollution.
However, it is easier said than done, as, despite their good intentions, most of these moves are not enough to manage the rising pollution levels. Just like every year, we once again saw a huge uptake in pollution levels around the festival season. Thanks to the combination of fireworks, stubble burning, and general vehicular pollution.
There are other environmental and topographical factors contributing to this issue. But we can’t really do anything about those. So, the only way to try and address these problems is to curb the man-made menace, and it seems the Delhi government is gearing up to do just that.
One of the big contributing factors in this equation is commercial vehicles. Vehicles, in general, contribute around 40% of all the emissions generated in the NCR region. A large part of this traffic consists of fleet drivers, who spend the majority of their days shuttling goods and people from one corner to another.
These include drivers from all sorts of industries. From e-commerce giants like Flipkart and Amazon. To food delivery services like Swiggy, Zomato, Domino’s, etc. To more traditional outfits like Delhivery, DHL, BlueDart, FedEx, etc. And cab aggregators like Ola & Uber. Even local shops have started their own delivery services in order to deal with the problems of pandemic shopping.
While the government can’t exactly ban the movement of these vehicles. Like they do with out-of-state commercial vehicles. They are still trying to take these emissions off the table, by offering other incentives. The latest one is the expansion of the Delhi Electric Vehicles Policy.
This policy has been responsible for the rapid adoption of EV’s in the region. Which has seen incredible growth, thanks to the wide network of public chargers, large discounts on EV purchases, and a state system that is trying its best to encourage their use.
Now, the Delhi government has brought another new update to this policy. This entails asking e-commerce companies, food delivery services, and cab aggregators to completely switch to electric vehicles.
This is not a new train of thought, as companies like Flipkart and FedEx have already established worldwide targets for converting their last-mile delivery fleets to electric vehicles. While other outfits like DHL and Amazon looking to at least partly electrify their fleet over time.
However, having a government backing this move brings another level of pressure to the equation. Especially considering that this means scrapping and replacing at least 30% of the registered vehicles in Delhi. Most of which are already quite used and abused as part of their daily lifecycles.
The government hasn’t given any official deadline to the aggregators for this switch though. All we have is a quote from a senior official in the transport department saying that, “It will be done in a phased manner. We will soon publish the draft guidelines.”
Another move that must just see the light of day sooner than this EV switch, is a mandatory pollution check at all petrol pumps. Under this policy, the government is going to ask dealers and petrol pumps to not give fuel to vehicles without a pollution-under-check (PUC) certificate.
This is the expansion of an ongoing drive against pollution in the city. Which saw more than 500 teams of traffic officials being deployed all over the city to randomly check PUC certificates at petrol pumps. Violations in this regard can rack up a fine as large as Rs.10,000, or even 6 months in jail, under Section 190(2) of the Motor Vehicle Act, 1993.
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We’ll just have to wait and see if this policy does become a reality. This is more likely than not, as the Delhi government is pretty notorious about going after older, more polluting vehicles. They have already started the process to deregister all diesel vehicles which will complete 10 years on January 1, 2022.
In compliance with the National Green Tribunal’s directions. Vehicles over 15 years won’t even get a NOC, to help them transfer ownership to other states, according to an order issued earlier this month. If these moves are any indication, we might just see a massive shift towards EV adoption in the next few years. At least in the rapidly growing last-mile delivery segment.
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