The Supreme Court, on Wednesday, banned registration of all diesel-run SUVs and luxury cars with engine capacity of 2000 cc in Delhi and National Capital Region (NCR) from 1 January to 31 March next year to combat increasing pollution in the city.
The SC bench headed by Chief Justice TS Thakur also directed all taxis in both Delhi and NCR to convert to Compressed Natural Gas (CNG) before March 2016.
The SC further ruled against the entry of trucks that were registered before 2005. Apart from this, commercial vehicles that are not Delhi-bound will also not be allowed to enter Delhi from NH-8 and NH-1, PTI reported.
According to reports, commercial vehicles carrying goods for the national capital will have to pay double the environment compensation charge. While big trucks will be charged Rs 2,600, light commercial vehicles (LCVs) need to shell out Rs 1,400.
It has also raised the Green cess levied on commercial vehicles entering Delhi by 100% and instructed the Central government to provide masks to all traffic policemen, observing that they are the worst-affected by the pollution.
The decision was taken in the wake of health concerns of Delhi residents due to deteriorating environmental conditions of the city. The Delhi government is also set to implement the odd-even formula from 1 January, 2016, to decrease the population of vehicles on the roads in order to combat pollution.
According to the scheme, the vehicles with odd number plates will ply on odd dates and even number plates on even dates.
