Ghaziabad: A drive to seize end-of-life vehicles (ELVs) triggered protests in housing societies in Sahibabad on Wednesday, with residents confronting an ARTO team and questioning the seizure of vehicles parked inside their premises without prior notice.The residents argued that a vehicle’s age alone could not establish that it was polluting and objected to officials taking away vehicles from their homes. The confrontation turned heated at several societies, prompting police to intervene and prevent the situation from escalating.The ARTO enforcement team seized 12 vehicles during the drive and handed them over to authorised scrapping centres. Officials said the action was necessary to enforce prescribed age limits for vehicles in NCR, under which diesel vehicles older than 10 years and petrol vehicles older than 15 years are not permitted to ply on roads.The crackdown comes at a time Ghaziabad has around 2.7 lakh ELVs, with the transport department working towards a target of getting 500 such vehicles scrapped every day. Many of these vehicles are parked inside residential societies, prompting the ARTO to seek the cooperation of AOAs and RWAs.Jai Dixit, a Shalimar Garden resident whose diesel Maruti Brezza was bought in 2012, questioned the basis for taking away vehicles that were not emitting excessive pollution. “If my vehicle is not polluting, why should authorities pick it up from my house?” he said.“I have paid road tax for 15 years, and my vehicle is not even polluting. They should give a notice first, rather than suddenly picking up our vehicles from our homes without our permission,” Dixit said.Another resident, Mohammad Rayees, said his second-hand Toyota Etios was picked up while he was at a stationery shop. He said an iron worker at his home told him that the car had been taken away by the RTO and left a note asking him to contact a scrap dealer.Rayees said he went to the authorised scrapping centre but could not find his vehicle there. “My vehicle was picked up without any notice, and when I reached the scrap dealer, the car was not even there. This is not the way officials can act,” he said.ARTO enforcement officer Amit Rajan Rai said the department was enforcing the prescribed age limits and urged owners of ELVs to voluntarily surrender them at registered scrapping centres. Owners are issued scrapping certificates, which can also help them avail themselves of benefits while purchasing a new vehicle.The ARTO said seven enforcement teams have been deployed across the city. With a large number of ELVs parked in housing societies, the department has written to the deputy registrar of chit funds seeking assistance in coordinating with AOAs and RWAs for the drive.
