Diesel ban to hit future investments, lead to job loss: Mercedes-Benz

As well as the large diesel sales ban, trucks aged 10 years or older have also been banned from entering the capital while any commercial vehicle not delivering to the New Delhi have also been banned from entering the city limits.

Automobile dealers in Delhi were facing a pile-up of stocks as sales plummeted following the recent NGT order banning registration of diesel cars as part of measures to clean up the abysmal air quality in the capital, which has been between “poor” and “hazardous” levels for several weeks now.

“It is noteworthy that diesel vehicles of 2,000 cc and above and SUVs are generally used by more affluent sections of our society and because of the higher engine capacity, are more prone to cause higher levels of pollution”.

“There is now a ban on the registration of diesel vehicles above 2000cc across NCR (Delhi)”, she said.

The city government has further informed that authorized pollution checking centres are spread all over Delhi and, at present, “388 centres for petrol/CNG-driven vehicles and 273 centres for diesel-driven vehicles are functioning all over Delhi”.

The court made it clear buyers would have to ultimately pay environment compensation cess on the purchase of every diesel vehicle with smaller engine capacity, but did not pass any order at this stage.

Anumita Roy Chowdhary, the Associate Director of CSE, pointed out that it is time to de-incentivise manufacture of diesel vehicles.

The National Green Tribunal recently ordered an interim ban on the registration of diesel cars in Delhi till the next date of hearing, which is on January 6, 2016.

The Apex Court banned the entry of trucks in Delhi which had been registered prior to 2005.

The bench therefore ordered that no vehicle that is not bound for Delhi will be allowed to enter from NH-8, that links Jaipur to Delhi, and NH-1, linking Punjab, Haryana and other northern states to Delhi via the Kundli border.

Spelling out the figures of the domestic sale of passenger vehicles, analysts said out of some 3 million sold in India annually, only around 7 percent is accounted for by the national capital – which makes it a market of 210,000 units. In addition, the Central Pollution Control Board and its Delhi counterpart were directed to ensure that construction sites put curtains and other devices to cut on dust pollution. In the backdrop of the latest climate change commitments and the toxic air that hangs over Delhi, it could be an opportune moment for Indian policymakers to use the tools of behavioural economics to alter people’s commuting preferences.

Earlier this month, the Delhi government, under pressure from pointed court statements expressing concern about increasing air pollution in the city, chose to implement the even-odd number vehicle policy from January 1.