Diesel autorickshaws will be phased out by the end of the year in Gurgaon, the district administration said Saturday. While no new diesel autorickshaws have been registered in the district from 2023, the existing ones will be impounded by December 31. At a meeting, Deputy Commissioner Ajay Kumar referred to the directives by the Commission for Air Quality Management (CAQM) dated November 30, 2022 on completely phasing out diesel autorickshaws by December 2026. It also had suggested registering only electric and CNG autorickshaws from January 2023. Kumar noted that while different timelines have been set for phasing out diesel autorickshaws across the NCR, for districts such as Gurgaon, Faridabad, Ghaziabad, and Gautam Buddha Nagar, the deadline is December 31. The adjoining districts have time until December 31, 2025. He instructed all Sub-Divisional Officers, Regional Transport Authority secretaries, and police officers to launch a campaign by the end of this month to ensure compliance with the CAQM orders. Kumar also directed officers to monitor the passenger capacity of shared autorickshaws and immediately impound the three-wheelers without registered numbers and those being driven by individuals under 18 years of age. According to Regional Transport Authority Secretary and SDM Ravindra Kumar, currently there are 38,400 autorickshaws of all fuel types in the district, of which 1,015 run on diesel. Additionally, over 80 diesel autos have already been impounded as part of the ongoing removal process. According to official records, Gurgaon has 77,000 daily passengers, in addition to around 16.49 lakh people who move from the city to Faridabad, Noida and Delhi every day.
