India’s Supreme Court has ordered a temporary ban on the sale of large diesel cars in New Delhi and hiked a levy on trucks entering the city.
Advertisement
The court said, “A ban on registration of such vehicles will not, therefore, affect the common man or the average citizen in the city of Delhi”.
The court halted the registration of diesel cars and sport utility vehicles with an engine capacity of 2,000 cubic centimeters or more until March 31 in the region of the capital.
The bench said: “We had by our order dated 9th October issued certain directions imposing environment compensation surcharge aimed at mitigating the hardship which people living in Delhi undergo having regard to the high of pollution in the city that has earned it the dubious reputation of being the most polluted city in the world”.
Honourable Supreme Court has requested several steps nowadays including a bar on personal vehicles of 2000cc and enrollment of SUVs and above within the National Capital Area upto March.
Now, light duty vehicles, carrying goods, will have to pay Rs 1400, instead of 700 and three-axle vehicles Rs 2,600, instead of 1,300 as ECC for entering Delhi.
The bench agreed to the contention that construction activities in Delhi and NCR contribute in the rise of pollution level. The majority of owners in Delhi and across India prefer diesel-powered vehicles, as the fuel is subsidised due to its extensive use in the agricultural and transportation sector.
Delhi’s crackdown on diesel cars has unsettled the industry, its salesmen and investors, who warn the ban and uncertainty around it could derail a tentative recovery in Indian sales and leave dealers with forecourts packed with unsold cars.
All taxis in Delhi including the ones which use taxi hailing apps (Ola, Uber, etc) should be converted to CNG by March 1.
New Delhi, Dec.16: Union Environment Minister Prakash Javadekar on Wednesday called for people’s participation to control the menace of pollution and said joint effort from both public and government is necessary to win war against pollution.
The Delhi government then announced that from 1 January 2016, private vehicles with odd and even registration numbers would only be allowed to operate on alternate days. The magnitude of the pollution tax is likely to depend on the vehicle price and this move is set to drive up the new auto prices in Delhi.
In other measures, the Supreme Court ordered authorities to strictly enforce the ban on burning of municipal waste in the capital.
Advertisement
It had also supported the AAP Government’s recent decision to restrict cars in Delhi based on the odd-even scheme, which had been at the receiving end of a great deal of criticism.
