BackNo more diesel taxis for government now
The Union environment ministry has asked central ministries and departments instead to choose cabs using compressed natural gas to check pollution
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New Delhi: The Union environment ministry has asked all central government ministries and departments not to use diesel taxis and instead choose cabs using compressed natural gas (CNG) to check pollution.
The move came after the chairman of the Environment Pollution (prevention and control) Authority for the national capital region, Bhure Lal wrote to the government, reminding it of the apex court’s decision on 16 December last year banning diesel taxis in the Delhi-NCR area.
“Dr Bhure Lal has informed that governments departments are also engaging diesel based taxis under the cover of the All India Permit for their requirements which is against the orders of the Supreme Court and has urged to issue necessary directions to all the concerned departments and PSUs to ensure that only CNG-based taxis are deployed while operating in NCR," said the ministry’s letter sent to secretaries of all ministries and departments of the central governments.
“It is therefore requested that ministry/departments may ensure that only CNG based taxis are deployed both by ministry/department organizations under its administrative jurisdiction, including public sector undertakings while operating in NCR in compliance of the order passed by Supreme Court of India," the ministry added.
Apart from banning diesel taxis, the apex court had also doubled the entry tax on trucks and banned diesel-powered commercial vehicles that are at least 10 years old from the city’s roads.
The apex court also imposed a ban on registration of diesel passenger vehicles of engine capacity of 2000cc and above in Delhi.
According to a study released by Delhi-based environmental think-tank Centre for Science and Environment (CSE) on Tuesday, air pollution claims at least 10,000-30,000 lives a year in Delhi. It is one of the top 10 killers in the world and the fifth leading cause of death in India, said the study ‘Body Burden 2015: State of India’s Health’.
Experts welcomed the move.
“Controlling dieselisation is important to reduce toxic risk. This direction to disallow government from using diesel taxis is significant because we have found that government is one of the biggest agencies to hire taxis. Every month thousands of diesel taxis are used by central government departments. So action against pollution should start from government setting a good precedent for everyone to follow," said Anumita Roychowdhury, executive director at CSE.
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