It was the thoroughly worrying levels of pollution in the country that first lead the NGT to ban diesel-run vehicles over 10 years old in Delhi.
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National Green Tribunal’s (NGT) special circuit bench at Ernakulam has banned the use of diesel vehicles older than 10 years and above 2000 cc in Kerala.
As a result of the blanket ban, combined with the monthly auto free days and the odd-even rule, Delhi has managed to shrug off the title of the most polluted city in the world.
Earlier this week, the NGT bench had issued the order against diesel vehicles while hearing a petition filed by the Lawyers’ Environmental Awareness Forum. Vehicles found violating the order will be fined Rs5,000 as “environmental compensation”, which will be utilised for the “betterment of environment in these cities”.
The diesel ban is likely to spread to other states gradually.
NGT Chairman Swatanter Kumar and expert member Bikram Singh, in their order said: “We direct that all the diesel vehicles, whether light or heavy, which are more than ten years old, shall not be permitted to ply on the road in the major cities like Thiruvananthapuram, Kollam, Kochi, Thrissur, Kozhikode and Kannur”.
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The petition filed by LEAF alleged that Kochi is one of the highly polluted cities in India and other growing regions of the state too are facing similar conditions. Therefore, NGT was bound to hear the state government and KSRTC prior to passing such an order as they are responsible for providing an alternate method of public transportation, the PIL said.
