Taxi operators meet SC appointed EPCA

The Supreme Court-appointed Environment Pollution (Prevention and Control) Authority today met taxi operators, running diesel vehicles with all-India permit, in the wake of protests by them that had disrupted traffic in the national capital for the last two days.
EPCA chairman Bhure Lal said the anti-pollution authority heard the grievances of the cab operators and that it will further meet tomorrow to chart the future course of action in arriving at a solution.
Nirmal Singh, who represented the AITP taxi operators in the meeting, said they submitted a set of suggestion to the Delhi government as well as the anti-pollution body as lack of clarity over their status had "severely" impacted their livelihoods.

Singh said Delhi government assured them of abolishing the multitude of permits in the city and replace it by a dual-permit and dual-fuel system.
"Under the duel-fuel system, cabs running on All India Tourist Permit would be allowed to choose between petrol and CNG as the latter is scarcely available outside Delhi. The EPCA has promised to apprise the Court of our problems," Singh said.
Bhure Lal, who has been heading EPCA since 1998, said that the body had recently issued a circular barring the registration of diesel-run cabs in the capital in adherence to relevant court orders.

The cab operators also demanded that vehicles running on low-sulphur diesel be allowed to run and to make arrangements for more CNG stations in the city. Representatives of app-based cab aggregators Ola and Uber were also present in the meeting.

Transport Minister Gopal Rai had yesterday said that the Delhi government, which has approached the SC seeking time to phase out diesel taxis, will seek clarification from the apex court over the status of diesel cabs running on national permits even as it continued its drive against surge pricing.
The transport operators had complained to Rai that the authorities were "unlawfully" booking and impounding national permit holder cabs despite there being no such directive from the court.
The Supreme Court on last Saturday had refused to give more time to cab operators to convert to CNG and put a ban on diesel cabs in the city from May 1, a decision that affected over 27,000 diesel-run vehicles.