Lift, scrap, repeat: Driving out old vehicles in Delhi

NEW DELHI: Leading a team of four officials from the transport department's enforcement wing, Samunder Singh has spotted a 2007-model black Honda City blocking the entry to a colony lane in Old Rajinder Nagar.
However, another car, a Hyundai Accent, is parked just ahead and needs to be removed first so that the crane's jack can be fitted to the Honda City.

"It has been an hour, we have informed the owner but no one has come," he says.
Seeing no signs of anyone turning up, the team removes the car and fits the jack onto the Honda City. At this point, its owner suddenly arrives and starts pleading with the officials not to take his car.
"We have purchased a new car and this vehicle needs to be exchanged. There is a long queue nowadays," says the owner. As he watches his car being lifted, he is handed a seizure memo.
Old Rajinder Nagar is one among several areas in the city where enforcement teams of the transport department have intensified their drive to impound overage vehicles and send them to scrapping units. The move comes after NGT and SC ordered that registered diesel vehicles over 10 years old and petrol vehicles over 15 years old cannot operate in NCR. The department has also advised people to seek no-objection certificates and transfer their vehicles to other places to avoid scrapping.
"We are impounding overaged vehicles, but we want people to voluntarily scrap their vehicles using an application developed by the ministry of road transport and highways," said a senior official.
According to transport department data, 1,553 vehicles, including both four- and two-wheelers, have been lifted till now.
Enforcement on the ground is tricky at times. For instance, when Samunder Singh's team traces a Zen Estilo parked near an intersection, its owner immediately emerges and says it is "on private land". One of the officials replies, "So, you can also build a house here?" The team then removes the car and hands him the memo.
About 200 metres away, another team, led by Sat Pal, enters a lane filled with old dusty scooters, most of them rickety with seats torn and headlights broken. Sat Pal notices an LML Vespa and asks around but no one claims ownership. He checks his handheld device and the scooter turns out to be over 20 years old. A seizure slip is prepared and Pal records a video on his mobile stating the scooter has been lifted. "We send proof to our seniors," he says.
According to a senior official overseeing the drive, several old scooters encroach parking spaces. "People are fed up with these vehicles. Neighbours usually tell us where to find them." The team takes 10 scooters and a car to a nearby parking lot, from where they would go for scrapping.
In New Rajinder Nagar, as a team lifts an old scooty parked outside a general store, the owner initially requests them to not remove it. When they don't relent, he tries bargaining: "There are six-seven cars in the next lane that are encroaching space. But don't tell them I told you."
Most people show reluctance and offer the same excuse, that they were about to get their cars removed from Delhi, according to Samunder Singh.
"One owner even sat in the car to stop us, so we waited a few hours and picked it up when he got out. Sometimes we have to call cops too," he says.
Recalling another incident, Singh says, "Once a person wanted his neighbour's car removed as it was full of dirt and mosquitoes, leading to a fight between the two."