National Green Tribunal: No new diesel vehicles to be registered in Delhi till January 6, 2016

NEW DELHI: The National Green Tribunal(NGT) on Friday in an interim order said that no new diesel vehicles will be registered in Delhi till January 6, 2016, the next date of the hearing.
The order also directed Delhi government not registering diesel vehicles altogether in Delhi.
The bench headed by NGT chairperson Justice Swatanter Kumar also directed the Delhi government and the Centre to stop buying any more diesel vehicles for their department.
"DDA, corporation, police and other departments concerned should prepare an action plan for phasing out diesel vehicles, particularly trucks by the next date of hearing," said the order.

The tribunal also emphasized that there will be no reregistration henceforth of diesel vehicles that are more than 10 years old.
Among other orders, NGT has directed Delhi government to submit a proposal a green belt, covering open grounds with grass and installation of air purifiers in all government and corporation schools.
Read the full order of NGT's order on controlling pollution in Delhi
On April 7, the green panel had held that all diesel vehicles which are more than 10 years old would not be permitted to ply in Delhi-NCR.
Earlier in the day, the green tribunal had questioned the Delhi government's odd-even formula for vehicles to check pollution in the national capital and said that such a move may not achieve the desired purpose.
"The odd-even formula for vehicles may lead people to buy two cars," the NGT said.
READ ALSO:
Delhi govt to double buses for odd-even trial
The Delhi government has announced that from January 1, 2016, private vehicles with odd registration numbers will ply on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays, and with even numbers on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays.
Both odd and even number vehicles can ply on Sundays.
One of the main criticisms of the odd-even formula has been the lack of adequate number of public vehicles that can accommodate those who will not be able to use their vehicles in the first fortnight of January.
To overcome the shortage of public vehicles, the Delhi government will double the fleet of buses during the 15-day trial period, starting on January 1, when the odd-even traffic formula will be implemented, CM Arvind Kejriwal said on Thursday.
The government has also asked Delhi Metro to increase the frequency of trains, allowed auto drivers to work for longer hours and has contacted the railways to streamline the ring railway services during this period.
These were some of the decisions announced by the CM after he chaired the second review meeting on pollution abatement measures, focusing on shoring up public transport to ease the pain of private vehicle users during the trial period that aims to reduce traffic volumes in Delhi.
Transport minister Gopal Rai said 4,000 private contract CNG buses and 2,000 CNG school buses will be added to the existing fleet of 6,000 DTC and cluster buses.
(With inputs from agencies)