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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Three arrested for killing Buddhist woman monk in Himachal
Shimla (PTI): Three people have been arrested for allegedly murdering a Buddhist woman monk in Mandi district of Himachal Pradesh nearly a month ago, police said on Friday.
The accused -- Gagan Sharma (23), Vishal (23) and Gaurav Sharma (20), all residents of Mandi -- were arrested on Thursday night, police said.
According to police, the 78-year-old Buddhist woman monk, Orje Shoki, was found murdered in a cave near Sarkidhar village, following which a Special Investigation Team (SIT) was constituted to nab the accused.
Mandi Superintendent of Police (SP) Vinod Kumar said that during the investigation, more than 50 suspects were questioned and DNA samples of several suspects were also collected.
After a detailed investigation, the accused were arrested from different locations on Thursday night, he said.
Kumar said all the accused are drug addicts and they committed the crime with the intention of looting the victim, so that they could buy drugs.
Efforts are on to nab two more accused wanted in the case. They will be put behind bars soon, the SP said.
