India issues rules on vehicles to curb pollution in capital

Beside doubling the “green tax” for trucks that are coming into the city, the court also banned trucks more than 10-years old from entering Delhi.

The setting compensation cost (ECC), at present levied at Rs seven hundred on mild obligation automobiles and Rs 1,300 on three-axle automobiles, will now go as much as Rs 1400 and Rs 2,600, respectively.

Further, only taxis running on CNG, including that of cab aggregators like Ola and Uber, will be allowed to ply in Delhi and the NCR, for which they have been given time till March 31. “We accordingly direct that Registration of SUVs and private cars of the capacity of 2000CC and above using diesel as fuel shall stand banned in the NCR upto March 31, 2016”. It all started with the declaration of Odd-Even Policy of Delhi Government in which only odd numbered cars will be allowed on roads on Monday, Wednesday and Friday and even numbered cars will be allowed on Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday.

Delhi has 8.5 million vehicles – up 97% from 2000 – and adds 1,400 new cars to its streets every day, contributing to a hazardous blanket of smog that intensifies during the winter months, triggering a slew of respiratory and life-threatening diseases.

The court stopped short of banning smaller cars.

However, in light of recent events surrounding diesel vehicles as well as heightened awareness over pollution control, sources say Mahindra has made a decision to pre-pone the launch of S101, which will now be launched in the third week of January.

It is the largest market for luxury auto makers such as Mercedes, Audi and BMW making up for as much as 18 percent of 38,000 luxury cars projected to be sold in the country by the end of this year.

Anand Mahindra, chairman of the Mahindra Group, said on Twitter his company would honour the court’s decision.

The move is expected to have a big impact on major players such as Mahindra, Tata and Toyota, whose diesel cars account for most of their total sales.

While preventing the Delhi Government and local authorities from burning solid waste to prevent harm caused to environment, it set a deadline of April 1, 2016, for the Arvind Kejriwal Government to purchase vacuum cleaning vehicles for cleaning dust from roads and pavements.

“This action on diesel vehicles was absolutely needed”, said Anumita Roy Chowdhury of the Centre for Science and Environment, an independent think tank.