The Supreme Court on Thursday extended the ban on registration of diesel cars with engine capacity more than 2000cc in Delhi-NCR till April 30.
It has also extended the deadline of private taxi operators in NCR to switch to CNG from diesel, by another month, from its earlier deadline of March 31. But, the industry is not complaining as they say that they are already converting their cabs to run on CNG.
Companies such as Ola have been already working over the last month to help diesel taxi owners across Delhi-NCR by highlighting their plight to the Environment Pollution Control Authority as well as the relevant government authorities.
“We have been simultaneously helping driver partners in Delhi-NCR buy new CNG cars with attractive discounts and easy loans. Ola has helped tens of thousands of driver partners to purchase new CNG cars through programmes like Ola Pragati Mahotsav,” Deep Singh, Business Head (North) at Ola, said. It’s rival Uber also said that it connects riders on its platform to only CNG-fuelled cars for trips within Delhi and since October, the company has pushed the adoption of CNG cars through significant measures and investments. The company has added over 11,000 CNG cars in the last five months, it said. “We will continue to push the adoption of CNG cars and technology-backed mobility solutions like UberPool to help keep Delhi's air clean,” Gagan Bhatia, General Manager, Uber North, said. Companies like Volvo Auto India have also geared up to further clean the air even inside its cars with advanced technology.
“We have taken the lead to further clean the air inside by having a CleanZone Air filer technology that restricts harmful PM2.5 and PM10 from entering our car’s cabins and outside our vehicles by installing Diesel Particulate Filters (DPF) which again reduces emission of PM2.5 & PM10 by up to 99 per cent,” Tom von Bonsdorff, Managing Director, Volvo Auto India, said. According to analysts, the ban on bigger diesel vehicles in NCR by the Supreme Court in the last three months was also positive as some steps have been taken by the government during that time. “The government is also planning to come out with scheme to replace old vehicles and give more push to environment-friendly going forward and these measures should help to develop sustainable transportation in the country,” Abdul Majeed, Partner at Price Waterhouse, said.