The Road Transport Ministry is looking to take legal recourse against the National Green Tribunal (NGT) order that calls for banning over 10-year-old diesel vehicles in the National Capital Region (NCR), even as experts point out that the condition of a vehicle should be taken into account.
The Ministry has already moved the Supreme Court against an earlier NGT order calling for a ban on 15-year-old vehicles, saying such a ban should apply only to commercial vehicles, not private ones.
Meanwhile, the Delhi Government has called a meeting on Monday with neighbouring Haryana, Uttar Pradesh and Rajasthan, to discuss the modalities for implementing the order.
To add to all this, the All India Motor Transport Congress has threatened that Monday onwards, no vehicle will enter Delhi if the Government does not look into the issue.
Stakeholders are questioning the grounds of the ban, its “suddenness”, execution and impact.
“The level of emission should be defined. Otherwise, such a move will cause panic among public,” said a senior transport official.
Vijay Chhibber, Secretary, Road Transport, said: “It (emission) depends on vehicle maintenance. The Government will take a view.”
Questioning mere replacement of vehicles as a panacea for pollution, V Shekhar Awasthy, Chief Data Scientist, Aileron Analytics Consulting, said: “When you replace an existing diesel vehicle with another (petrol or CNG), you buy 1,000 kg to 2,000 kg of steel. Has anyone paid any attention to the pollution caused by first processing iron to steel sheets and then, further processing this to auto components?”
Environmentalists, however, welcomed the order. Anumita Roychowdhury, Executive Director, Centre for Science and Environment, said emission norms of diesel vehicles in any case are more relaxed.