Karnataka has over 39 lakh vehicles older than 20 years
New Delhi, Jul 30: Delhi has more than 36 lakh vehicles older than 20 years, the second highest in the country after Karnataka, which has over 39 lakh such vehicles, the Centre said on Friday.
Responding to a query in the Lok Sabha, Minister of State for Environment Ashwini Choubey said there are 2,14,25,295 vehicles older than 20 years in the country.
He said these figures exclude vehicles in Andhra Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Telangana and Lakshadweep as they are "not in centralised Vahan 4 portal".
While Karnataka has 39,48,120 vehicles older than 20 years, Delhi has 36,14,671, followed by Uttar Pradesh with 26,20.946 such vehicles, as per the data shared by the minister in a written response.
Kerala recorded 20.67 lakh 20-year-old vehicles, Tamil Nadu has 15.99 lakh such vehicles and Punjab 15.32 lakh vehicles, he said.
On being asked about pollution caused by these vehicles, Choubey said no assessment has been made regarding the pollution caused by these vehicles in the country.
The number of 20-year-old vehicles in Delhi assume significance as the Supreme Court had ruled in 2018 that any registered diesel vehicle more than 10 years old, and any petrol vehicle over 15 years old cannot operate in NCR. These rules have been laid down in various orders issued by the NGT (2015) and the Supreme Court (2018).
However, earlier this year, the Centre had proposed a new draft vehicle-scrapping policy, which will allow owners to use their old vehicles after a fitness test and on payment of a higher fee.
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Odisha varsity's VC loses Rs 14 lakh in 'digital arrest' fraud, 2 nabbed from Gujarat
Berhampur, Apr 13 (PTI): Two persons were arrested from Gujarat for allegedly defrauding the vice chancellor of Odisha's Berhampur University, Geetanjali Dash, of Rs 14 lakh, police said on Sunday.
Identifying themselves as Enforcement Directorate (ED) officers, the accused reached out to Dash, claiming that she was involved in a money laundering case, they said.
She was kept under "digital arrest" from February 14 to 22, and asked to deposit all her cash for a priority investigation. Accordingly, she transferred Rs 14 lakh to them, police said.
Eventually, they returned her Rs 80,000 with the assurance that the rest would be given after verification. However, she did not get back the rest of the money, they said
Dash filed a complaint with the police on February 24, following which the arrests were made from Bhavnagar in Gujarat earlier last week.
Those arrested were identified as Bhutaiya Jenil Jaysukhbhai (23) and Vishwajeetsinh Gohil (21), police said.
The accused were brought to Berhampur on a five-day transit remand on Saturday, they said.
Several incriminating items, including mobile phones and Aadhar cards, were seized from them, police said.
Superintendent of Police of Berhampur Saravana Vivek M said the duo was part of a gang involved in several cyber crimes in various parts of the country.
"Efforts are being made to arrest the other members of the gang. Investigation is underway to trace their pan-India network and map the complete money trail," he said.
