The Supreme Court has imposed an interim ban on diesel vehicles with engines larger than 2.0-litre in Delhi for a period of three months from January, 2016.
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Other rulings include a ban of all trucks over 10 years old to pass through the capital and a demand for all Delhi taxis, including Uber and local Ola, to convert their cars for running on compressed natural gas. Centre for Science and Environment (CSE) said “Delhi took a leap in cutting toxic diesel emissions with the order”.
They referred to IIT Kanpur’s draft study on pollution sources in Delhi which found that diesel cars, that are a quarter of all cars in the city, are responsible for 60 % to 70% of PM2.5 emissions from vehicular sector in the city.
In order to curb the abnormal rise in the pollution levels in the NCR region, The Supreme Court on Wednesday took this drastic step to ban registration of diesel-run SUVs and cars having engine capacity beyond 2000 cc in Delhi and National Capital Region till March 31 and this order will supersede those which are passed by other forums including the National Green tribunal(NGT).
The World Health Organization said previous year that New Delhi had the most polluted air of the almost 1,600 cities that it had surveyed. “The levy of ECC has no doubt resulted in some diversion of such vehicles but a very large number of vehicles not bound for Delhi still appear to be entering Delhi on payment of ECC, stipulated by us”, the SC observed.
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The bench therefore ordered that no vehicle that is not bound for Delhi will be allowed to enter from NH-8, that links Jaipur to Delhi, and NH-1, linking Punjab, Haryana and other northern states to Delhi via the Kundli border. “We, however, direct that for Delhi-bound vehicles loaded with goods, the ECC will be twice the charge stipulated by us”. State governments and Union territories will ensure that vehicles with registration numbers of 2005 or earlier don’t enter Delhi. It has immediate effect and will be in effect until March 31, 2016 in Delhi and the surrounding region. The court said construction norms prescribed by the Central Pollution Control Board should be strictly enforced to reduce dust.
