The Centre plans to complete the registration of all beneficiaries under its PARIVARTAN (Programme for Accelerated Renewal and Incentivization of Vehicle Assets for Reducing Transport Air Pollution and Network Emissions for Delhi-NCR) scheme for replacing older commercial vehicles within a year, half the two-year timeline approved by the Union cabinet in June, as it seeks to cut vehicular emissions ahead of next winter.
Ministry of Road Transport and Highways (MoRTH) secretary V Umashankar said the ministry is targeting 230,000 truck and bus registrations under the scheme in a year and has set an interim target of 25,000 registrations by the end of October.
Also read: Union cabinet approves scheme to replace old trucks, buses to curb air pollution
“If this initiative runs well, the visible results will be there for everyone to see next winter,” Umashankar said, citing the perceptible improvement following the conversion to Compressed Natural Gas (CNG) between 1998 and 2002.
New Delhi emerged as the most polluted capital, with an annual average of 99.6µg/m³, nearly 20 times the World Health Organization (WHO)’s safe limit, in the annual World Air Quality Report 2025 by IQAir.
