Switching from diesel to CNG costly, cabbies don’t expect more SC relief

Syed Ali Ahmed

The private taxi operators in Delhi and NCR are no more hopeful of further relief following the Supreme Court order on March 31 that extended by a month the deadline to switch to CNG from diesel.

The SC had also extended the ban on registration of diesel cars with engine capacity more than 2,000 cc — the second such ruling. On December 16 last year, private taxi operators were given time till March 31 to convert their cars from diesel to CNG mode. Since then many diesel taxi operators have approached the government for an administrative policy in their favour, but no avail. The maximum diesel taxi operators are attached with Uber and Ola taxi services.

Following the second SC direction, a majority of diesel taxi operators have started disposing of their vehicles in Uttar Pradesh and Haryana where diesel cars are preferred. But the taxi operators who got registered their cars in the last two years are upset as the Delhi transport law does not allow them to transfer their permit. According to the Motor Vehicle Act of the Delhi Government, a taxi operator cannot sell his car before two years of completion of his vehicle’s registration. Yogesh Pratap, Deputy Commissioner, Planning and Operations, Transport Department of Delhi, said he was unaware of any such policy.

Bhure Lal, Chairman of the Environmental Pollution Control Authority — an advisory body to Supreme Court on pollution matters — said only the transport department of the Delhi Government could sort the issue.

Converting a diesel taxi into the CNG mode costs around Rs 80,000 to Rs 1 lakh. However, Aditia Bhalla, spokesperson for Ola, and Inderjit, general secretary of the Rajdhani Parivahan Panchayat, said diesel taxis could not be converted into CNG mode due to some mechanical issues.

Ola has offered to help diesel taxi operators purchase CNG taxis. So far, 6,000 operators have joined hands with the taxi service after disposing of their diesel cars.

Post Sri Sri event, quietly flows the dirty Yamuna

Though 18 days have passed since the World Cultural Festival, organised by Sri Sri Ravi Shankar’s Art of Living foundation, took place on the banks of the Yamuna, the place is yet to be cleaned.

Farmers across the Yamuna floodplains, through whose fields temporary tracks and roads were created for the festival, complained of garbage being removed only from specific places against the claims of the AoL.

“There is garbage everywhere. They acquired our agricultural land and did not clean the mess,” said Dayaram, a farmer of the nearby village.

According to the AoL, five agencies were assigned the task of housekeeping and cleaning, garbage collection and removal, dustbin dissemination, mobile toilets and mosquito fumigation.

Shakil Ahmed, Office Secretary of East Delhi MP, and AoL spokesperson Maheish Girri said a large number of NGO activists were involved in cleaning the Yamuna floodplains for a week. “It has been made cleaner than earlier,” they claimed.