24.5.16

NGT bans diesel vehicles in Kerala

The National Green Tribunal (NGT)'s newly constituted special circuit bench at Ernakulam on Monday ordered that no diesel vehicle older than 10 years should be allowed to ply in six corporation areas in the state, including Thiruvananthapuram, Kochi and Kozhikode. The tribunal also temporarily banned registration of new diesel vehicles over 2,000 CC. Looking at possible alternatives, the NGT bench asked the state to inform it whether enough CNG is available for running vehicles in the entire state. The order comes into effect a month from May 23.
The directions were issued in an interim order by justice Swatanter Kumar and expert member Bikram Singh Sajwan in response to a petition filed by Lawyers Environmental Awareness Forum (LEAF) through advocate Jacob Abraham.
The interim order by the tribunal stated, “In the meanwhile, the State of Kerala shall not register any diesel vehicle with the capacity of 2,000 CC and above, except Public Transport and Local Authority Vehicle. Further, we direct that all diesel vehicles, whether light or heavy, which are more than ten years old, shall not be permitted to ply on the road in the major cities like Thiruvananthapuram, Kollam, Kochi, Thrissur, Calicut and Kannur.“ In many cities like Kochi and Kozhikode, privately-owned buses are the main form of public transport and constitute a major chunk of vehicles on the road. Of around 16,000 private buses in the state, 9,000 are above 10 years old. Around 85% of the 90,000 trucks in the state are above 10 years old. Almost all buses used by educational institutions too would fall under this category .
Most experts say the NGT order makes eminent sense.
The tribunal's order made it clear that any vehicle found violating the directive after 30 days would be liable to pay Rs.5,000 per violation as environmental compensation. Such compensation can be collected by traffic police or State Pollution Control Board.Funds so collected should be maintained separately by the pollution control board and should be spent only for betterment of environment in the cities where the ban would be in force, the order stated.
In the interim order, the tribunal said it may refer to orders passed by its larger bench in November 2014 by which all vehicles older than 15 years were banned from the roads in Delhi (Vardhman Kaushik vs Union of India). Next hearing in the case has been posted for July 29th.
Private bus owners raised objection to the NGT order saying it would be difficult for them to call back the vehicles all of a sudden.

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