Centre to seek review of SC ban on diesel vehicles in NCR

Govt says vehicular pollution contributed little to overall pollution

The Union government will appeal to the Supreme Court to reconsider the ban on diesel vehicles in the national capital region (NCR). The decision was taken after a meeting attended by Road Transport and Highways Minister Nitin Gadkari, Heavy Industries Minister Anant Geete and Environment Minister 8Prakash Javadekar.

An informal note issued by the three ministries said a study shows that only nine per cent of air pollution comes from vehicles in summer, while it is 19 per cent in winter. It was observed in the meeting that the initiatives taken by the three ministries in the past two years to reduce air pollution need to presented to the Supreme Court.

“The ban has created an unprecedented situation of thousands of taxies getting off the road. This has resulted in immediate loss of jobs to thousands of people and also serious commuting problems to working men, women and youths in NCR,” said the note issued after the meeting.

Many establishments in Delhi-NCR, particularly in the information technology and business process outsourcing sectors, have late working hours. So, non-availability of safe transport facilities poses a safety and security threat to these working men and women, it said. After the ban, major companies in Delhi-NCR have decided not to provide any transport to the employees.

The statement said the Union government has taken a number of initiatives in the past two years to address the issue of growing pollution in Delhi. These include announcement of BS-VI norms to be implemented with effect from April 1, 2020. Under this, oil companies would invest Rs 60,000 crore for BS-VI fuels.

Besides, standards for bio-fuel such as ethanol, bio-diesel, electric hybrid were notified. Retro-fitment of existing polluting vehicles into electric hybrid and electric vehicle was permitted. Pilot has been successfully completed.

Work on the eastern periphery expressway and western periphery expressway (WPE) is currently going on with 53 km of WPE between Manesar to Palwal being opened to commuters recently.

The plan to de-congest Delhi has also been finalised with eight arterial roads. Besides, the concept note for the policy to scrap old vehicles has been finalised.

E-tolling on national highways has started. “The e-rickshaw policy has helped in reducing pollution to a great extent,” said the note.

Ministerial-level meetings have also been held with NCR states and Punjab. All NCR states have formulated short-term and long-term action plans for control of air pollution.

Stubble burning has been banned in all NCR states as well as Punjab. There has been a 40 per cent reduction in burning in Punjab and 17 per cent in Haryana compared to last year.

Data from 772 pollution checking centres in Delhi are used for better monitoring of vehicular pollution in Delhi. Three non-complying units of NTPC have been closed.

To promote cleaner vehicles, incentives are being given to buyers of hybrid and electric vehicles. Besides, there are plans to infuse seven million hybrid and electric vehicles by 2020 under the National Electric Mobility Mission.