: Greenery around schools will be enhanced and a policy for scrapping old vehicles will be chalked up soon by the Delhi Government, following orders from the National Green Tribunal on Friday.
The NGT ordered the government to stop registrations of new diesel vehicles till its next hearing on January 6. Though it is an interim order, environmentalists and government officials welcomed the move.
“This will definitely have an impact on air pollution levels. The NGT also asked us to ramp up plantation around schools, which is something that we have been encouraging. We will increase our efforts,” said Ashwani Kumar, the Secretary of the Delhi Government’s Environment and Forest Department.
The government will be coming up with a policy that encourages people to scrap old vehicles that tend to be more polluting. A senior official said the government would consider an incentive programme for people who want to scrap their old cars.
The chairperson of the Supreme Court-appointed Environment Pollution Control Authority, Bhure Lal said the NGT’s interim stay on registration of diesel vehicles was a “welcome move”.
He added that the NGT’s order should be seen as a step in the right direction as it intends to curb the growing population of diesel cars.
“In April, we had suggested a complete ban on registration of diesel vehicles in the NCR but perhaps due to pressure from auto industry the government did not act on that,” said S.P. Singh, senior fellow at the Indian Foundation of Transport Research and Training.
Mr. Singh added that the government should encourage, through incentives, the use of CNG-based trucks.
This will definitely have an impact on air pollution... we've also been asked to plant trees around schools
Ashwani Kumar,Secretary of Forest Department
