JOIN USCity govt plans to restrict diesel vehicles
The Delhi government is preparing for tough decisions like restricting the number of diesel cars per household to one to clean the city’s polluted air.
The proposal to introduce a diesel vehicle quota is aimed at balancing the environmental issues with concerns of motorists and the automobile industry. “A total ban on diesel vehicles is impossible,” said an official.
The transport department, which is looking for new ideas to tackle air pollution, has also narrowed down on a suggestion to impose congestion tax on vehicles from other states that use the city only for transit.
Parking charge
A monthly parking charge may also be imposed on Delhi car buyers who fail to prove, at the time of purchasing a new vehicle, that they have adequate parking space in their homes. This levy would be in addition to the one-time parking charge which is currently paid by a new vehicle buyer, said an official.
“The system of transport department seeking proof of parking space from a new car buyer is currently followed in the Aizwal – the capital northeastern state of Mizoram,” said an official.
In Tokyo and Singapore, people are not allowed to purchase a car if they don’t have parking space for it.
According to a study by the Central Road Research Institute, Delhi has 106 cars for every 1,000 people. This is nearly seven times of the national average of 16 cars for every 1,000.
Almost half of the city’s daily commuters still use private vehicles. As a result, new vehicles are bought daily – nearly 1,100. Of these, 400 are cars. At present there are about 80 lakh vehicles in the capital.
Following the National Green Tribunal’s orders to remove diesel vehicles older than 10 years old from city roads, the Delhi government is preparing to first bring in 10,000 new public transport buses and then start removing the diesel vehicles.
According to sources, Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia has also flagged the issue of ageing fleets of Delhi Jal Board tankers and Delhi Fire Service tenders.
“Till we replace the 10-year-old vehicles in government departments, it would not be sensible to implement the NGT ban by acting only against private diesel vehicles,” said an official.
Transport Minister Gopal Rai said the government is committed to cleaning the air. “We want to do it systematically,” he said.
He said from joint exercises with other NCR states are on to check overloading of trucks.
Uniform norms
A senior official in the transport department said the government was also looking at a possibility of having uniform vehicle registration norms and taxes for all the NCR states.
There are about 5.38 lakh diesel vehicles registered in Delhi. Out of these, 1.18 lakh private vehicles and 34,659 commercial vehicles are older than 10 years.