[car_crazy1400]

Tell me about it.

I have been forced to use two seperate cars ( Seltos and Ignis) for any family outings as both of my bigger ones (2015 Mercedes GL 350 BS 3 & Fortuner 2018 BS4) have been banned from Delhi roads.

Have seen traffic police challan the people with such cars especially when they are driving either of the 3 German ones.

[Eddy]

https://www.ndtv.com/delhi-news/delh...dtv_topstories

Owners of BS-III petrol and BS-IV diesel four-wheelers will now be able to take out their vehicles on Delhi roads as the curbs imposed on them amid rising pollution levels ended on Sunday.

However, a Delhi government official said a meeting will be held on Monday to decide whether the curbs should continue or not. "The restrictions were in place till November 13 and they have not been extended yet. The AQI (air quality index) has been stable in the last four days in the city. There is a meeting tomorrow to discuss what needs to be done," he said.

So wait and watch time now!

[Shreyans_Jain]

The blanket ban on BS3 petrols and BS4 diesels in Delhi is back on. Effective immediately, till 9th December.

Rs 20000/- fine.

[fhdowntheline]

This is stupidity at its very best. How can they just assume that every BS3/4 car will pollute by default ? And what's with the steep fine? How about they imposing fines on errant farmers who burn off the stubble inspite of multiple requests ? If they are so concerned, let them settle the issue once and for all, permanently ban BS3/4 diesel cars and actually give owners a compensation of 20000 for upgrading to the current standards. Its not the owners fault if you allowed registration of the cars for 10 years. If you were so concerned, you should have made an yearly inspection mandatory, subject to which the car would be declared roadworthy.

[headbanger]

So if someone gets caught and challaned in this banana ban, should he consider himself breaking a law or plain unlucky?
I mean there will be so many BS3 and BS4 cars on road and an extremely miniscule will get caught in the quandary.
We have marriage festivities in family from 6 Dec to 8 Dec in Delhi and all cars in family in NCR except one is BS6. Add to that, folks coming from outside Delhi are now contemplating whether to take chances with Delhi police or not. 20K fine is cherry on the top of a nonsensical order.

[nvldvr]

Originally Posted by headbanger

So if someone gets caught and challaned in this banana ban, should he consider himself breaking a law or plain unlucky?
I mean there will be so many BS3 and BS4 cars on road and an extremely miniscule will get caught in the quandary.
We have marriage festivities in family from 6 Dec to 8 Dec in Delhi and all cars in family in NCR except one is BS6. Add to that, folks coming from outside Delhi are now contemplating whether to take chances with Delhi police or not. 20K fine is cherry on the top of a nonsensical order.

From what I know, the cops target SUVs only.

As for sedans/ hatchbacks, it's nigh impossible for them to stop and check each car.

No words to describe this incomprehensible foolhardiness.

[amartya_bhp]

This sort of ban is useless and is very difficult to enforce. It creates unnecessary chaos on the roads, have been facing this for quite some time now in select pockets in NCR, making travel impossible and stressful in times of going to pick up my child from school.

[headbanger]

Originally Posted by nvldvr

From what I know, the cops target SUVs only.

As for sedans/ hatchbacks, it's nigh impossible for them to stop and check each car.

No words to describe this incomprehensible foolhardiness.

But basis my experience with Delhi Police, they are smart in identifying which cars to target. For example, I have a Type 1 Dzire and my Brother in law has Innova (generation before Crysta). These cars are easy targets because the cops can visually identify them as potential ones just by looking at them. Some years back, Delhi Police kept stopping my Zen for 15 years rule. I bought Zen during last years of it's life cycle and hence every time Delhi police saw our Zen on road, I had to show my RC to validate that the car was within 15 years age bracket.

It's primarily due to experiences like this and fear of paying 20k just in case you are the unlucky one, I most likely will hire cab for ferrying my family around in Delhi during this marriage. Not that it's going to be substantially less than 20k,but it will save me mental hassle.

[coolkurt]

I had to get back to Delhi from an outstation trip so I was worried regarding the ban, with my Hector being BS4 Diesel, but I was not stopped at any of the check points.

Visibly older vehicles and SUVs like Innova, Endeavour, Ecosport, Indigo etc were being stopped. Hector being a relatively newer vehicle, was not scrutinized.

[koolkunz]

https://www.hindustantimes.com/citie...426277915.html

The ban has been lifted according to this article.

[drsachin]

Most private buyers buy cars based on economics. The car which cost the least to own and maintain is favoured, Pollution or not pollution is secondary advantage. For people who are dependent on cars for their livelihood will base their buying decision on economics only. So central/state governments should formulate policies which help towards pollution reduction keeping these personal economic factors in mind.
1. Encourage Electric vehicles. Without doubt they reduce pollution. In present scenario, they are helping reduce pollution by shifting source of pollution outside the cities. But the next course of action would be towards shifting electricity production to renewables/Nuclear. central governments are already doing it. Build EV infrastructure within cities, society flats etc. Build geniune EV ecosystem which is sustainable (Non Chinese dependent, non lithium dependent).

2. Encourage Strong hybrids. This helps by easy adaptation for people who find EV only modes not feasible (Those living in society flats, poor EV infrastructure). Advantages are also low Chinese/Lithium dependent. Definitely reduce pollution by atleast 50% compared to conventional ICE.

3. Discourage diesels, discourage poor fuel economy cars: why only half hearted effort in reducing pollution by merely punishing diesel cars. Why not make efforts in improving efficiency of pollution checking centres. Some of newer generation diesel cars may be less polluting then older technology petrols. A fuel guzzling petrol luxury cars /SUVs may be more polluting then smaller diesels. Why not tax them according to fuel efficiency/ actual pollution contributing by them. Delhi government temporarily banned all diesel cars below BS6, why no ban on fuel guzzling luxury cars or poorly maintained two wheelers. Efforts of Delhi government is really funny, sometime they introduce odd even , sometimes ban diesels, no consistent policies , it's really confusing to car users. But each time selecting leaving out those who may be contributing more due to political reasons.

4. Encourage reverse migration of people out of cities. This is again where politics are making things difficult. Biggest contribution to pollution in cities is ever increasing population. Over Population in cities then they can sustain is contributing to both air pollution and mountains of garbage. World over capital states are purposefully made expensive to live for a reason. But the present Delhi government is doing the opposite. The freebies(Free electricity, water) make living in capital city more rewarding then staying outside. Presently the satellite towns of Delhi (Noida Gurgaon) is far more expensive then Delhi in every possible way(Expensive water/electricity/real estate due to high Circle rates while Delhi is still dealing with low circle rates and high black money). Now how will they solve problem of garbage mountains on which they fought present elections, the easiest and cost effective thing would be to burn them. So Delhi people please watchout for more Pollution in coming days and more punishing of private car users.

[shankar.balan]

I was in Delhi - Sunday to Wednesday. This is the first time that Im visiting Delhi in 3 years.

I spent the 3 days there, mostly in the heart of Lutyens Delhi. I wore a mask throughout, to the derisive reactions of everyone else.

Yet I got a cough immediately and could NOT walk more than 1Km near Lodhi Gardens even at 0600hrs. I experienced breathing trouble. And I could see the visible dust and particulate matter constantly settling on my phone screen all the time even when I was completely surrounded by acres of greenery on all sides.

I could literally feel the dust and grime on my fingers all the time despite liberal use of hand sanitiser. The air was hazy, the sun was murky and I felt choked. Even in my first class room, it was dry and I felt the fine dust everywhere.

If I went out, I was in a nearly new Innova Crysta. I believe it has the modern Hepa Cabin Filter etc. Yet, I suffered.

Delhi/ NCR for the uninitiated, is terrible. Absolutely frightfully poisonous atmosphere. As per Apple the AQI was in the 140-300 range every day!

And in my careful observation this time, while there is plenty of traffic, this pollution is mostly down to huge amounts of construction dust and debris and other atmospheric impurities and muck.

The giant garbage mountain of Patparganj for example. Absolutely frightening. Almost Apocalyptic!

I believe therefore that this whole pollution thing is being unfairly attributed solely to vehicles.

I am glad to be back in Bangalore, despite all its imperfections. One can at least breathe.

[SKC-auto]

Originally Posted by shankar.balan

And in my careful observation this time,

There are lot of personal biases, how could you determine this(with your nose, eyes, skin) pollution is not caused by cars? How could you differentiate a tiny PM2.5 particle is not from the cars? Let's agree cars are part of the problem even though they may not be the only problem.

PS: The govt failed miserably on reducing all kinds pollution and just resorting to simple methods of banning cars for few days.


https://indianexpress.com/article/ci...ution-8246066/

[shankar.balan]

Originally Posted by SKC-auto

There are lot of personal biases, ? Let's agree cars are part of the problem even though they may not be the only problem.

PS: The govt failed miserably on reducing all kinds pollution and just resorting to simple methods of banning cars for few days.
[

The visible particles coating my phone screen were most certainly specks of dust and not vehicle emissions. The air that I breathed there carried choking dust particles as well.
Thats the simple truth of my experience.
And that is all that I have written.

[SKC-auto]

Originally Posted by shankar.balan

The visible particles coating my phone screen were most certainly specks of dust and not vehicle emissions. The air that I breathed there carried choking dust particles as well.
Thats the simple truth of my experience.
And that is all that I have written.

If you are able to determine the particles by looking at it means it's size is greater than PM10, your health will not be affected by such large particles, those particles are stopped at your nose or removed from your body when you sneeze. You are affected by particles which are less than PM 10, they affect your health and they stick like muck as you stated. Unfortunately cars are one of the contributors.

My point is there are many tiny particles, without any measuring equipment we should not conclude with naked eye that the pollution from cars is low.